The World's Strongest Man
by Thugs Bunny 009
Summary: Bummed to be left alone the ancestral son of the most powerful demon to ever grace the worlds sets off on a new journey, allowing his senses to lead him to quite possibly the looniest city ever. Now he has to whip out the imaginary belt to show these nut-cases just what a real man is before he loses his goddamned marbles. YusukexHarem.
1. Seeking a Purpose

**Disclaimer: I don't own YuYu Hakusho or Ranma 1/2**

**Pairings**

**Keiko/Yusuke/Ranma-chan**

**Ryoga/Akane**

* * *

><p>"Here you go, sir! Enjoy your meal!" Chirped the overenthusiastic attractive female cashier as she watched a young teenage boy rapidly nearing the end of his adolescent years pick up a tray holding a small bag of French fries, three cheese burgers, four chicken-legs, and two cokes after he had handed her the money for it in something akin to a grumpy manner.<p>

"Yeah. I'll be sure to mail ya the bill after this sends me on a one-way trip to hell," Sarcastically grumbled the teenage boy while he meandered away from the giggling female and over to a table, looking at his meal with a comical scowl on his features, "Sheesh. Talk about a heart attack on a tray."

But as the boy sat down on a high stool and placed the tray on the table he added with a lackadaisical air around him, "…At least it's cheap." From there he lazily picked a couple of fries out of the bag and placed them into his mouth to chew on them and swallow them down his throat before doing the same to the rest.

From his gelled-back styled black hair and the clothes he was wearing it was clear the boy was one of those hooligans the senior-citizens watched out for, or at least that was what the dropped out boy's image implied.

His skin was tanned and his eyes were a dark chocolate colour. His teeth were sharpened, glinting in the sunlight peering through the windows of the restaurant-establishment.

He wore a long-sleeved green dress shirt underneath a yellow jumper, the edges of the shirt were seen hanging out of the bottom of the jumper and the sleeves could also be seen poking out of the yellow jumper since the boy had the long sleeves of the jumper rolled up as if he was expecting to be jumped at any given minute. A green cargo jacket, blue jeans, and a pair of sneakers completed the boy's appearance.

"Nineteen old Yusuke Urameshi, a middle school dropout, a fired detective, the captain of the champions Team Urameshi of the dark tournament, the fearless defender of justice, and quarter-finalist in the Makai-tournament is bored as hell…" The ancestral son of the now deceased Raizen more or less summed up his life in a bored tone.

It wasn't his fault that he failed middle school. The special defence force of King Enma had been given orders to lead him to Makai so they could seal the portal up, and thus lock him away forever, fearing the young boy's power could grow to the point where he could either take over the world to rule it with an iron fist or just outright destroy it.

The Mazoku-race was not to be taken lightly.

It was only thanks to Yusuke's bright idea to propose a tournament to decide a true king of Makai once and for all after he'd met and be trained by his godlike demon great (many greats) father Raizen before the legendary demon passed on that he was even freed from Makai in the first place.

Heh. Raizen was a sucker for love and that love led him to go on a hunger strike. The love of Raizen's life was a human-woman so it would've been wrong for the demon to devour any humans knowing he loved a human with all his heart.

But humans were Raizen's source of nutation and without them to fill his gut the powerful demon eventually withered away, and died; all to make a stand that demons should stop eating humans, and that was all inspired by Raizen's beloved.

Raizen's dream did come true though after his long-time friend Enki conquered the Makai-tournament Yusuke had founded to take place every three years to decide who the king of Makai should be in that period of time.

Peace between demons and humans had long last become a reality, and now overwhelmingly powerful upper S-class demons like Yusuke Urameshi and Kurama could journey in and out of Makai to be with their families, and friends waiting for them on the outside world.

If Yusuke thought he could get a peaceful life with his beloved Keiko-chan and good friends then he was wrong.

The time Yusuke had returned from Makai to be reunited with his childhood sweetheart the girl had been nearing the end years of High school and was heading on her way to university along with that lovable goof Kuwabara who surprisingly passed High school with flying colours while managing to push his power-level onto middle S-class.

Heh. Sensui ain't got nuthin on Kuwabara nowadays, Yusuke would muse.

Kurama, the smartest man Yusuke had ever known, easy, obviously kept up with his school work, passed middle school and high school with honours on both fronts, and was welcomed with open arms into a respectable university in Tokyo.

And Hiei was stuck on patrol duty, helping any wandering humans who mistakenly journeyed into Makai by erasing their minds of what they saw in Makai and dropping them back in the human-world.

Needlessly to say, Yusuke was bummed to be left alone. No job, no university, no friends to chill with, no nothing!

Boring!

The next Makai-tournament wasn't to be held for the next two years.

"This sucks, what's the point of having all this power if there ain't no one around to try my luck on," Yusuke grumbled, grabbing a chicken leg and greedily getting a bite out of it in a manner resembling a caveman.

'Can't go home 'cause mom will just nag me to death 'bout not getting into Uni like Keiko and Kuwabara,' Yusuke mused, looking up at the ceiling like it would tell him the future.

'I mean what does she take me for, a professor?' Yusuke asked himself rhetorically, a comical look of annoyance coming to his features, 'I'm qualified for blowing shit up, not discovering the reasons for the dinosaurs' extinction.'

Yusuke sighed. He remained silent as he ate his meal with a deep look of concentration on his features, trying to avoid his mind getting clouded so he could consider his options of what to do for today, and the remaining days of Keiko's adventure in university.

Yusuke's mind came up blank even as he wolfed down his final cheeseburger and last ounce of unhealthy food.

"Aw, to hell with it; I'll just wing it. There've gotta be some interesting crack-pots I can let loose on around this globe of normal, I've just got to find 'em," Yusuke concluded, hopping off of the stool and tucking his hands into his pockets, leaving the tray littered with empty wrappings and bags where he left it as he coolly sauntered out of the restaurant.

His goal: to find some worthy opponents.

XxX

**The World's Strongest Man**

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_ONE _

**Seeking a Purpose**

XxX

Yusuke's long month journey brought him to a city similar to his own hometown, except this town had a canal and two well-known restaurants within it. Yusuke found it oddly intriguing when he saw a depressed black haired boy effortlessly, and casually walking on the fence blocking people from the canal.

The kid had some real balance to be able to do that, however his reiki-levels were laughably low, even lower than Yusuke's were when the delinquent boy first became a spirit detective.

Was that why he was so upset, because he was so weak for some inexplicable reason? The blue haired girl which was walking next to him at the time did seem sympathetic and tried to cheer him up until he apparently made some snide remark about her because her expression immediately turned sour.

Any consoling she was going to give the rude-boy was forgotten right there and then.

Besides that the girl was a decently strong fighter. If Yusuke had to measure her power he'd class her as a middle D-class fighter. She could without a doubt beat someone of Gouki's calibre but would be easily thrashed by someone of Genkai's calibre, even as old as she was.

"Alright. I'm gettin' somewhere." Yusuke murmured, still with his hands in his pockets as he walked the neighbourhood-area of the city which had taken him a month to arrive in, and that was only because Yusuke had casually jogged here rather than full on sprinted here. However, because Yusuke was so unbelievably fast a normal jog for him was an inhuman sprint to a normal person. His basic run-speed was three hundred and thirty miles per hour.

The half-demon didn't realize that at the time and was completely oblivious to the gawking eyes within the passing cars he cruised right past.

"Here I should be able to get the ol' jet running up," Yusuke quipped, a smirk came to his features once his senses alerted him to the reiki-signature nearing closer to him inadvertently.

Spinning around Yusuke's battle-ready gaze landed on a boy ambling forward with a lost expression on his face. He had black hair, two bangs of his hair framing his face, a yellow bandana wrapped around his forehead, a sleeveless yellow tank-top; black trousers, black shoes, a brown backpack on his back, and a red umbrella sheathed in his bag.

"Now where am I?" The boy wondered to himself as he surveyed the surroundings, "Oh Akane-chan. Where are you? It's been so long since I last saw you, and I miss you."

"Bingo," Yusuke smirked. He was about to stroll up to the boy, and challenge him to a sparring match until the lost-boy passed some little old lady who had a weird habit of splashing water on the sidewalk without watching to see if someone was walking in the part she was chucking water at for one reason or the next not even the lord knew.

Now normally someone getting doused with cold water wouldn't have thrown Yusuke off, hell the rude-boy would've laughed his ass off, and carried on in his merry way, but when someone got showered in cold water and immediately transformed into a small black piglet was always bound to set off alarm bells in Yusuke's head.

"Huh?" Yusuke let out in a dumbed fashion as he walked up to the now small piglet who was struggling to dry itself off.

Yusuke took notice to the yellow bandana wrapped around the piglet's neck, "Whaddya know, ya can learn something new every-day," Yusuke said to no one in particular, raising his eyebrow once the piglet flinched and turned its head to look at him with wide eyes.

Yusuke bent down and plucked the struggling piglet off of the ground, staring at it with a frown on his features, "Well I'm slumped. Are ya my dinner?" The piglet rapidly shook its head with sweat bullets raining down its face, "So I guess that means I ain't losing my marbles. You really did just go from a dude to a potential turkey dinner at the touch of a little water eh."

The piglet frantically nodded its head, sweating nervously at the mention of a turkey dinner.

"So what now, you stuck this way, or what?" The piglet shook its head, "You can change back?" The piglet nodded its head at Yusuke's question, prompting him to turn his head to the cause of the strange boy's transformation.

"Will that do the trick?" Yusuke wondered and the piglet shook its head, "Eh. So water won't reverse the effects?" The piglet jerked its little head from side to side in the negative, "It will eh," The piglet squealed and nodded its head in confirmation, "Just not ice cold water, is that what you're trying to inform me?"

The piglet squealed and nodded its head.

"Guess ya need to be roasted in hot water to turn back eh." Yusuke stated and the piglet whined, but gave another meekly nod in confirmation before Yusuke effortlessly lifted up the transformed boy's belongings which had fallen off of him due to his shrunken body.

The piglet gulped at the mysterious boy's show of strength as Yusuke wielded his heavy umbrella, backpack, clothes, and shoes all in one hand.

"Alright. Let's go find ya some hot water then," Yusuke said, much to the piglet's delight before it felt cold water hitting its and Yusuke's forms, causing Yusuke to become enraged as he spun around to the little old lady, "Hey, watch where you're spraying that thing lady! This ain't exactly a car-wash, y'know!"

The old lady just looked up at Yusuke with a pleasant smile on her face as she gestured to her ear, "What's that sunny? You hear something?" Yusuke and the piglet just stared at the old woman with an aura of awkwardness around them.

"Uhhhh. Nuthin'." Yusuke eventually dismissed the matter since he'd more pressing issues to deal with, "Hey, lady, you gotta furo in there or what?"

"Hmm. What's that? You want a cup of tea?" The old lady asked ignorantly, spinning on her heels to walk back into her house.

"No! I said have ya gotta a ba-."

"Come along, child. It's been a while since I've had good company," The woman murmured, seemingly ignoring Yusuke's real reason for wanting to tread in her home as she sauntered into her house and left the door open for Yusuke to walk in.

"Geez. I wonder why that is, eh? Maybe if you booked an appointment at the doc's to fix your broken glasses and hearing-aid you wouldna be avoided like the plague." Yusuke quipped under his breath and the piglet squealed in agreement.

"…Oh well." Yusuke sighed, taking his first few steps to the house with the piglet and the piglet's things in hand, "Let's get ya fixed up, dude."

XxX

"Make yourself at home dear. The tea will be ready in thirty minutes," The old lady's voice rang out from somewhere in the tidy, neat little home once Yusuke had ventured into it.

"With pleasure." Yusuke grumbled. Not long after saying that did the half-demon find the bathroom located on the bottom room of the little ancient lady's house, "Figures, the old bag of bones is about as stable as a pile of bricks," Yusuke quipped, walking into the furo and chucking the lost-boy's belongings on the ground.

The piglet and Yusuke cringed at the sight of the ground getting ruptured from the heavy belongings Yusuke had carelessly thrown to the ground.

"Damn lil guy, you sure come packing, don't ya?" Yusuke asked in a jestingly manner, but the piglet just remained frozen solid.

Upon walking over to the bath Yusuke switched on the hot water and coolly turned his back on it and began walking over to the wall as if giving the water some time to heat up.

Once Yusuke could feel the stream filling the furo he knew the water was hot enough for the piglet to transform back into his human-form, so Yusuke coolly chucked the piglet over his shoulder and into the bath with a splash.

"Phew. I thought I was a goner back there for sure." A relieved sigh came from behind Yusuke, sounding very much like the voice Yusuke had heard before it was muted out due to the cold water turning the boy into a small piglet, "Thanks. I owe you one…"

"Yusuke. Yusuke Urameshi," Yusuke introduced himself, leaning up against the wall and pulling out a box of cigarettes and a lighter from his pocket before taking out one cigarette from the box, putting it by his mouth and lighting it up while the naked boy started to redress himself.

"Ryoga Hibiki," The boy had the politeness to introduce himself since Yusuke told him his name. "Thanks for the save I guess," It was a little bit awkward talking to a stranger who had somewhat been aware of his cursed form beforehand. Most people would usually pick up Ryoga in his cursed form and attempt to cook him rather than ask him if he could change back.

Of course once they threw him in the boiling hot water they had prepared to roast Ryoga, he would instantly turn back into his human form and be enraged as hell and ready to murder someone for his suffering.

That was usually the bane of his existence.

…_Saotome_.

So it was understandable why Ryoga felt a little meek in the powerful black haired young man's presence. Add to the fact Ryoga sensed an incredible amount of Ki just oozing off of this young man in front of him the moment he stepped in front of his piglet's form.

'My Ki doesn't even come close to this guy's. He's like a living god compared to _Saotome_ and myself,' Ryoga mused, staring at Yusuke as if he were some deity from above.

Ryoga couldn't even begin to clasp the concept of measuring the teenage boy's enormous amount of Ki to his own, 'This guy's… something else.'

"No props," Yusuke brushed it off, coolly taking a drag from his cigarette while Ryoga nodded a little tentatively, "Tell me something, since I'm new here and all. You owe me a little info at least."

"Oh right," Ryoga snapped at attention hastily, but meekly, "What do you need to know?"

"How did ya do that?"

"Do what?"

"Y'know, go from a potential punching bag for me to release my frustrations on to someone else's dinner, eh. You cursed or something?" Yusuke guessed, making Ryoga gulp. This guy wanted to spar with him.

Screw that!

Yusuke would kill him.

"Oh, well, you see-," Ryoya started to explain, pushing his index fingers together as if it would buy him some-time to think of a way to elucidate to Yusuke how he transformed into a piglet after getting doused with cold water so Yusuke could be satisfied enough to not want to beat the information out of him.

"I'm all ears," Yusuke assured, being patient with the shy boy.

As Ryoga thought of a way to break down his dilemma to Yusuke, he felt his shyness slowly lift to be replaced by righteous fury just thinking of the person who was the reason why he was having this awkward conversation with a supreme being of immense power in the first place. Anger suddenly filled Ryoga's eyes at the thought of the cause who got him cursed, so the lost-boy just seethed furiously, "Saotome!"

"Saotome?" Yusuke blinked, prompting Ryoga to elaborate on the matter.

"It's all that damn ingrate's fault for knocking me in the Jusenkyo Spring of Drowned Piglet! Arghhhh! Curse him! Curse him to hell!" Ryoga screamed furiously, causing Yusuke to blink before he took another drag of his cigarette.

"And where're these 'Jusenkyo Springs of Drowned Pigs'?" Quoted Yusuke.

"China, and there's only one drowned piglet spring to my knowledge Yusuke-san. The one I fell into," Ryoga raged, balling his hand into a fist, and digging his nails into his skin at the thought of Ranma's smirking face. The smug bastard.

"I'm just gonna take a wild guess here but what the fuck was ya doing in China?" Yusuke asked.

"To seek vengeance on that spineless coward Saotome!"

"Huh?"

"Yeah! He had the audacity to steal my bread at lunch time when we were in middle school together, and when I finally had enough of his mockery of me, I challenged him to a fight; but he turned tail and ran on the fourth day I arrived in the place we promised to do battle at! The scum!"

Yusuke immediately face-faulted once hearing the lost-boy's reasoning for wanting revenge against this Saotome-boy.

"You mean this Saotome-kid waited three days for you to show up at the battlefield to whoop your ass?" Yusuke asked to make sure he had this right as he gawked at Ryoga's sheer stupidity, 'Damn. I think I feel bad for this Saotome-kid. Ryoga's a bigger doofus than Kuwabara was.'

But there was only one way to make sure and that was for Ryoga to confirm Saotome lost patience and just left before he could get there on the fourth day.

"Damn straight! That scary cat turned yellow belly, and ran by the time I got there!" Ryoga raged.

Check.

"What the hell were you doing in the time Saotome was doing his nails, hiking through a desert?" Yusuke asked, but Ryoga bypassed that question in favour of hitting the side of the bathtub with his fist in frustration.

"Damn Saotome. He doesn't deserve an angel such as Akane-chan," Ryoga muttered.

"Akane eh, who's she, your lady-friend?" Yusuke wondered with a small smirk on his face.

"She should be!" Ryoga shouted. The more he spoke with Yusuke the more comfortable the normally shy boy became to the point where he was willing to shred his protective shell and roar his feelings for the youngest Tendo to a guy he had just met. After all it wasn't like Yusuke knew Akane Tendo, so Ryoga somewhat felt safe that his dirty little secret would be kept hidden from the goddess known as…

…Akane Tendo.

The youngest Tendo deserved nothing less but the best.

"Whoa, easy there Tiger, no need to burst my ear-drums out," Yusuke joked while holding up his hands in something akin to a placating manner, an easy-going grin on his face.

Ryoga might have been startled that should a powerful fighter hadn't scolded him for more or less shouting in his face if the adrenaline-rush wasn't threatening to carry him to the other side of the planet and back again.

"Akane-chan shows nothing but kindness to the scumbag Saotome, but he replays her kindness by treating her like dirt!" Ryoga roared with a fist pumped up in the air and at this point Yusuke's grin had turned sheepish seeing the kittle of Ryoga evolve into a fearsome tiger at the mention of his princess, Akane Tendo!

'Wow, this guy sure did a 180, women I guess. He's a sucker for love.' Yusuke mused with an amused smirk on his lips. He could certainly relate to that, "Well if you care so much for your princess, why don't you pancake the douchebag-Saotome's ass like a bulldozer. I'm sure this Akane-girl would be all over you if you did."

The anger drained out of Ryoga, leaving a pitiful expression on his face, "It's not that simple Yusuke-san."

"Oh yeah. How ya figure? Come now, share with the rest of the class," Yusuke urged.

"Saotome, he's a," Ryoga tried to find the words, but his confidence was leaving him. Fast.

"He's a… what now?" Yusuke probed deeper into the matter.

Ryoga hastily twisted his head to the side to hide the shame on his face, "A no good cheater!"

Yusuke immediately understood the implications of Ryoga's reluctant statement, "Ah. So he whoops your ass, eh." The half-demon said frankly.

"Not helping, Yusuke-san," Ryoga deadpanned.

Yusuke chuckled, "Haha. Alright. Steady the sails, Ryo. 'Cause ya seem like a decent enough guy-," 'Pathetic more like,' Yusuke corrected himself mentally, "-I've decided to lend ya a helping hand so ya can score your princess, and show this Saotome-kid who's the big-cheese between you two, you feel me?"

Hope filled Ryoga's eyes, "You'd do that for me?"

"Sure. I ain't got nuthin else better to do with my time. I can cross charity-work off of my good deeds list of which will hopefully see me rise to the luxury hotel up in the big blue sky when I eventually kick the bucket." Yusuke quipped, Ryoga nodding almost lifelessly along.

"Say, where does this Saotome-kid live anyway? I'd like to introduce him to my knuckles," Yusuke said, smirking while he cracked his knuckles, making Ryoga gulp before a devious idea struck the lost-boy like thunder.

Yusuke could give Saotome the righteous beating the arrogant boy had been begging for.

"Oh. Well Saotome lives in the Tendo Dojo with Akane-chan and her family," Ryoga explained, suddenly feeling very small once Yusuke turned incredulous eyes onto him, "Well Akane-chan and Saotome are being forced to wed because their folks want to merge their dojos or something."

"Damn. An arranged married eh, did their elephant-god from above order 'em to wed their children?" Yusuke asked, "On second thought don't answer that one." Yusuke hastily added as he rounded his arm in a circular motion to prepare himself to evaluate Saotome's skills, knowing he would need a rough idea of Saotome's fighting-style so he could train Ryoga to counter it effectively.

"I've got enough bad karma as it is," Yusuke grumbled while Ryoga looked at him in a dumbed fashion, "So shall we head off to this dance V.I.P-style and show this Saotome-punk who's top dog around these parts."

"You mean right now?!" Ryoga hadn't been expecting to face the bane of his existence so soon.

"Yeah. I'm itching for a decent warm-up," Yusuke smirked.

Oh. Yusuke wanted to take on Saotome. That was good.

"Oh. Well you see I'm not sure how to get back to Nerima," Ryoga murmured timidly.

"Where?"

"The city where the Tendo Dojo is? I've been lost for weeks now, it's another curse of mine I fear," Ryoga said.

Yusuke could feel Ryoga's reiki-signature heavily clouded and shrouded by depression.

The kid obviously had a sad life.

"No problemo, Ryo. You make yourself comfy here and I'll go find this Nerima-joint so I can kick Saotome's ass. Be back soon you hear?" Yusuke asked, making Ryoga shoot his head up to look at Yusuke with a gawking expression on his face but before Ryoga could ask what he was meant to do in this old lady's house Yusuke was gone like the wind.

"Man he's so fast. Saotome doesn't stand a chance in hell against him." Ryoga gasped and as much as that should've made him happy, it didn't because he knew deep in his heart that Akane-chan would be upset if Saotome was made to look like a baby against a powerful foe.

It pained Ryoga to admit that his precious Akane-chan cared for that jerk Saotome.

"Oh Akane-chan, I'm so sorry you must be put through this my dear. I promise once all is said and done we can be together and happy, I promise my love." Ryoga mused dreamily, literally falling into daydreaming mode as he imagined a life of him and Akane: a life where they were married, had three kids, they owned the Tendo Dojo, she kissed him goodbye before he headed off to work, and she looked up to him as if he were truly a god among men.

Ah. Ignorance is bless.

Back in reality, Ryoga glanced around the bathroom with clear confusion evident on his face.

"Now how do I get out of here?"


	2. A New King in the Hood

**Disclaimer: I don't own YuYu Hakusho or Ranma 1/2. **

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 2<strong>

**A New King in the Hood**

"It's a official, Ryoga's an A-class dumbass," Yusuke grumbled.

Not long ago had the former spirit detective discovered he was in Nerima all along after he ignorantly asked an old geezer where he was.

Beforehand the half demon had foolishly left Nerima and journeyed elsewhere around Japan in the hopes of finding the Tendo Dojo, after that didn't work out his senses brought him back to the town playing host to all kinds of crazy reiki-signatures, for better or for worse.

Yusuke released a sigh from his lips, "Well at least I sniffed out the dojo," Yusuke said, standing beside a short four-sided wall blocking an easy entrance to what he believed was the Tendo Dojo's back garden, "Only one way to find out," Yusuke smirked, wiping his nose with his thumb, "It's time for my fist to make an appointment with Saotome's face!"

"Gimme that chart old man!"

A curious look came to Yusuke's face hearing the shrieking command of a young girl on the other side of the wall.

"Sounds like the party's started already," Yusuke mumbled to himself.

Yusuke's eyebrow rose in curiosity once he sensed the 'girl''s reiki-signature, "Now that's odd. Either I need therapy sessions, or that emo-boy I saw earlier today suddenly hit high notes," Or he could have fallen into some magical grave pool of a drowned girl or boy, like how Ryoga fell into one and became a potential roast cook dinner.

"Are there more of those burial ponds thingumajigs around China," Yusuke wondered to himself, cupping his chin with his hand as he pondered Ryoga's explanation of how he became a half-boy, half-piglet.

Ryoga did say there was only one spring in Jusenkyo probably containing the dead skeleton of a piglet, thus cursing it for life and all those who fall into it.

"Ranma you can stay a hopeless weakling for all your life for all I care."

Yusuke looked up to see a very short reddened-skinned, nearly bald old man, except for the fluffy white hair stretching from one ear to the next behind his head, and the pencil-shaped moustache, wearing a nondescript-looking dark purple gi with a black sash tied around his waist and black shoes on his feet.

From the scornful look on the old man's face and voice Yusuke could tell something must have gone down on the other side of this wall the old man was standing on.

"No," The same feminine voice as before, which was probably this Ranma-person the old man dismissed, wailed pitifully.

The old man didn't look merciful in any sense of the word.

"Grandpa Happosai!" Yusuke recognized that girlish voice as the girl who was trying to cheer up the emo-boy earlier before giving up and turning away from him in contempt, "Don't worry, Ranma, we'll get that pressure point chart off of grandpa Happosai one way or the other. You'll see."

"What's the use Akane? The old geezer ain't budging," Ranma murmured miserably, the old man identified as Happosai just stared disdainfully at Ranma, "I'm gonna be at the bottom of the food-chain for the rest of my days on this stinking planet."

"I was just trying to help!" Akane defended her actions righteously.

"Well you shouldna! Who would need an uncute tomboy's help like yours anyway?" Ranma shot back sourly.

"Arghhhhh!"

"I wish I had some popcorn now," Yusuke muttered to himself, rubbing his nostrils with his index finger while a smirk came to his face, "I think I just found myself some entertainment. Haha."

Yusuke's mutterings caught Happosai's attention and the old man turned to him curiously, "Whatcha standing around here fella?"

Happosai's instincts alerted him to impending doom as Yusuke's self-satisfied smile hardened into a malevolent grin, the wolf-esque fangs poking out of Yusuke's mouth made Happosai blanch, "Ah. Nuthin' you need to rally the troops 'bout old geezer," Yusuke lied expertly, casually bending down and picking up a pebble.

Happosai visibly let out a sigh of relief, "Phew. I thought you were here to assist that disrespectful Ranma."

"Is that so?" Yusuke asked, a dark tone creeping into his voice which the old man remained oblivious to.

"Roger! She won't respect her elders!" The ancient man whimpered, reaching into his gi and pulling out a frilly bra, "And all I wanted her to do is put on a cute bra for me! Is that so much to ask for? Adolescents are supposed to respect their elders!"

"Ya hit the jackpot with that old geezer," Yusuke smiled ghostly, causing Happosai to smile victoriously as he placed his hands on his hips and held his nose in the air, "It's just a darn shame that-," Yusuke let his actions finish off his speech by launching the pebble at Happosai at a blinding speed, forcing blood out of the old man's forehead and pushing him into the garden once again after the super, super-duper bullet-esque pebble connected resoundingly with Happosai's forehead.

"Ayaaaa!"

"…That same rule doesn't apply to a withered up shrimp who doesn't even come up to my knee."

XxX

(Moments Earlier – Tendo Dojo – Back Garden)

"Arghhhhh!" Akane raged with her nearly shoulder-lengthened tomboyish blue hair rustling slightly as she stomped her foot angrily on the ground. She had fair skin, dark eyes filled with exasperation and aimed at the kneeling red haired girl, curvaceous hips, cc-cup breasts, and sharply legs.

Despite her tomboyish hair and tomboy nickname given to her by Ranma, Akane wore a bright yellow blouse underneath a red dress, a nice sun flower hat on her head, and red slip-on shoes on her feet. Her attire and overall complexion spoke of femininity, contrary to Ranma's insult of her being a tomboy.

"I was trying to support you idiot!" Akane scolded the redhead.

The redhead looked up at Akane with her blue eyes blazing with fury, "Who do ya think you're talking to tomboy? I ain't no baby!" Ranma's luscious red hair fell to her mid-back and was tied in a pigtail. Her skin was also light like Akane's, but Ranma wore clothes more suited to displaying the prowess of a martial artist.

A red silk Chinese top, black silky loose pants, and black slip-on shoes was Ranma's choice of clothing. It did nothing to hide the diminutive redhead's shapely hips and D-cup breasts.

"Well you sure act like one Ranma-idiot!"

"Who asked ya for your input, _dummy_?!"

"…I guess it's back to the drawing board, eh Saotome?" Depressively sighed a middle-aged man who looked like he'd been spending too much time in the sun like the middle-aged man next to him named Saotome and the old man on the wall known as Happosai.

His black straightened long hair fell to his back and matched his black moustache. He wore a dark grey karate-styled gi with matching pants, and martial arts shoes on his feet.

Standing on one side of the black haired man was the one he'd addressed as Saotome and on his other side were his two lovely daughters, one with a pleasant smile on her face as she quietly fretted at the squabbling Akane and Ranma, and the other one had an ice-cold nonchalant look on her face as she looked at Happosai who seemed to be engaged in a conversation with someone.

Saotome appeared to have a deep look of concentration on his face.

The bespectacled man was bald without an ounce of hair on his head, but he shamefully covered his bald head with a white bandanna. His skin also looked very sun-burned like the black haired man's and Happosai's skins. Saotome wore a white karate-styled white top, karate-esque white pants, and a black belt tied around his waist. For whatever reason he didn't wear shoes and left the karate-styled top open a bit to show-off his rather chubby chest.

Saotome was probably hoping to woo some lady with his fat self.

A man can dream.

Saotome's pseudo-focused look only lasted a minute before he broke into tears.

"Waa. Waa. How could the master do that to my lifelong work? I dedicated years into turning my boy into a man among men, and m'boy let the master ruin it!" The bald man known as Genma Saotome whimpered, drawing his son-turned-daughter's attention onto him, "My son's such a disappointment! Waa. Waa. Waa."

A shoe to the forehead momentarily silenced the bawling Genma, "You're one to talk, ya stupid old man! Ya think I wanted that dirty letch of an old geezer to zap me of my hard-earned strength!"

Genma looked at Ranma and frowned disappointingly, "You're a disgrace boy, letting the master do that to you! I've taught you better than that! Now look at yourself, wallowing like a girl! Haven't I always taught you already that everything can be used for training purposes?!"

"Ugh!" Ranma raged.

"Saotome quieten down! The master might hear you!" Soun Tendo chided his long-time friend with an aura of worry around him.

"Whoops," Genma said and dropped to his knees, bowing his head to the old man standing atop of the wall in a cowardly manner, "I'm sorry master, I didn't know what came over me! Please forgive me master!"

"Oh my, uncle Saotome," The teenage girl with a polite smile on her face said sympathetically. She had chocolate brown hair falling to her back with a white hair-bobble tied neatly at the end of her hair, and gentle blue eyes. She wore a baby blue dress underneath a white cooking apron and white sandals on her feet.

"Boy, aren't you the paragon of righteousness, old man," Ranma quipped with sarcasm dipping into her voice, causing her father to growl at her, but otherwise keep his head firmly glued to the ground to avoid the master's wrath.

"Yes, that's the perfect position to be in Saotome-san since the old fool's 'looking' exactly at you," The middle Tendo daughter of Soun sarcastically told Genma, to which earned her several raised eyebrows.

The moneymaking wannabe business girl had brown hair like her sister Kasumi Tendo, only hers fall to her shoulders, she also had disinterested brown eyes, and she wore a green loose women-top, a frilly lacy bra-top, white short shorts, and sneakers on her feet. Like her sisters the girl's skin was light and she had sharply legs and C-cup breasts.

"What do you mean Nabiki?" Akane asked curiously, but Nabiki only languidly pointed at Happosai, making the others look to see the old man with his back turned to them.

"You don't say? The master's actually having a conversation with someone?" Soun asked while cupping his chin with his hand, a calm pensive expression on his face.

"Preposterous! Our master's too evil and thoughtless to have social interaction with an acquaintance! He hasn't a kind bone in his entire body!" Genma was quick to shoot down that ridiculous notion with 100% conviction in his voice.

"What are we waiting for, a bus? He's still detracted isn't he? Let's ninja the old-freak and pick-pocket the pressure point chart off of him!" Ranma quipped loudly, a fire of resolution lighting up her eyes. She still had a small glimmer of a chance to regain the strength she had worked so hard to gain in all her years of training with her father since she could walk.

Although those years Ranma had been training she'd been a boy, not a half boy, half girl.

Stupid old man.

And stupid Jusenkyo curse.

"Ayaaaa!"

Happosai's weep of pain disrupted Ranma's train of thought. The redhead along with the others watched in shock as Happosai practically flew back into the back garden with a trail of dark red liquid leaking from his forehead.

"Master!" Soun and Genma called out reflexively. He was still their master as much as the two middle-aged men resented and feared him, they had to show some concern, if only so the master wouldn't see a need to batter them until they couldn't walk. Or worse…

…Make Genma and Soun do his dirty work for him.

"Oh my, whatever could have hit grandpa Happosai?" Kasumi wondered gently, looking at the tiny old man with a hint of concern in her eyes.

Akane peered closer at the hurt old man and noticed the red liquid pouring down from his busted open forehead, "Hey, I think grandpa Happosai is bleeding." This revoked a surprising reaction from both her father and uncle Saotome.

"What?" Soun and Genma gawked.

"S-someone p-possibly i-injured t-the m-master," Soun drawled stutteringly. His and Genma's whole bodies trembled while hope filled their eyes, "S-Saotome, d-do you realize what this means?"

"Y-yes," Genma stammered, "We could be rid of the evil master for good!"

Tears ran down Soun's eyes, "Oh how I've longed to see this day, we shall celebrate with a bottle of sake and a game of shogi!"-

Genma grinned and patted his old friend on his shoulder, "My thoughts exactly, Tendo old friend."

Soun and Genma happily, and blissfully turned around to amble back inside with their arms wrapped around their shoulders, laughing jollily.

"Hey, it ain't over until we get that pressure point chart off of the old freak!" reminded Ranma, causing the two over-enjoyed men to pause in their tracks.

Happosai winced in a babyish manner, "Ouch. You tricked me! That's not fair, you hoodlum!"

"Master!"

*Splash*

Soun cried fearfully, dropping onto his knees and bowing profusely to Happosai while Genma hopped into the pond and emerged as a big white and black panda before joining Soun in pleading to their master for his forgiveness.

*I'm just a helpless panda!* The panda bowing to Happosai held up a wooden sign he seemingly pulled out of nowhere with the aforementioned words engraved on it. The panda rose its head long enough to reveal tears running down _its_ eyes.

"Dad…" Akane muttered with a scowl of annoyance on her face at her father's shameless, pitiful display of begging.

"Really, daddy?" Nabiki deadpanned, "You two really do need to grow a backbone."

"Oh father," Kasumi reprimanded demurely and quietly.

Kasumi's words of disapproval were definitely the most painful Soun felt.

Fortunately for Genma, his own daughter was too busy observing the spot of where Happosai had been thrown off, trying to surmise what could cause the annoying, but overly powerful ancient martial artist to fall off of the wall like that.

"Hn. What could make the old freak bleed like that?" Ranma asked herself, eyeing the spot Happosai was now standing in and only spotting a small pebble nearby, "A pebble?"

"Hm. Were you saying something, Ranma?" Akane asked pensively, but Ranma ignored her in favour of listening to Happosai rant.

"Grrr, you better come out now, you little delinquent. I'll teach you to respect your elders," Happosai bitched commandingly.

"Your wish is my command, old mousey," They heard someone say in a mocking tone.

"Who said that?" Akane asked.

She didn't have to wait long as a black haired teen around Kasumi's age landed on top of the Tendo Dojo's wall in an impressive show of flexibility.

"Yo, Gramps, you rang?" The boy inquired in a taunting manner.

A pensive expression adorned Nabiki Tendo's features as the attentive girl took in the boy's appearance. Tanned-skin, combed back black hair, and rebellious-looking clothes. Could it be who Nabiki Tendo thought it was?

Nabiki had always been about making money, even it meant she'd need to sell out her own family to do so, bet on fights, horse-races, or even selling pictures of her own sister, Akane, and Ranma-chan to an illusion boy who gave off the feeling that he along with his entire family were escapees from a mental institution.

Whatever method worked to bring in the bills, Nabiki Tendo was using it.

The gold-digger even had agents around different schools running a betting operation. One of those schools was Sarayashiki Junior High school where the renowned and very much feared Yusuke Urameshi attended.

Nabiki had won a lot of money from Yusuke's fights. If this boy turned to be _thee _Yusuke Urameshi then Nabiki Tendo could find herself in a lot of trouble. No one fucked with Yusuke Urameshi. No one.

Nabiki knew that Yusuke knew she had been making a profit off of him because the money coming back to her from her little minions were always 70% less than what it should have been, which meant Yusuke had discovered Nabiki's follower betting on his fights and cornered her until she gave him his fair cut.

'Well it's looks like I'm screwed,' Nabiki mused as she schooled her emotions to remain calm and collected in the face of danger, 'Or maybe not. He still has to go through daddy and Saotome-san before he can get to me.' Somehow that _didn't _reassure her of her safely.

"Oh my, grandpa Happosai has a grandson," Kasumi stated with her hand covering her mouth.

"I never knew the master had any children to begin with," Soun said to Kasumi before he looked at Genma, "Saotome, did you know of this?"

"No. The master hasn't an ounce of kindness in his body. It's obvious this boy's as disrespectful as my boy," Genma murmured, turning his head to give his son-turned-daughter a disappointed look.

"That's Happosai-sama to you, you little whippersnapper!" Happosai bitched angrily, balling his hands into fists at Yusuke's smug grin, "Argh! I'll teach you to respect your elders you riff-raff!"

"Respect? Kinda a hard thing to give to a dwarf-geezer who doesn't even come up to my knee eh," Yusuke taunted.

"Well I guess that proves whose side he's on," Ranma mumbled, looking at Yusuke with a pensive expression on her cute face and wondering how he knocked Happosai off of that wall so easily, judging by Happosai's reaction, 'The guy mowed the old freak off of the wall with nuthin' more but a freaking pebble. How'd he do that?'

Happosai pouted furiously, looking like a mad children who couldn't get his way, "Ohhh! I'll teach you to respect me! Then I'll make you go out and bring me my one true treasure: the bras and panties of pretty ladies!"

Soun and Genma winced, feeling sorry for the poor boy about to face Happosai's wrath, while Ranma and Akane raged silently at Happosai's perversion.

"Y'know, I sure hope that guy pimp-slaps the old freak into next week," Ranma muttered and for once the youngest Tendo had to agree with her fiancé.

"For once, we agree Ranma," Akane replied dryly.

Happosai, oblivious to Ranma-chan's and Akane's ire, leaped at Yusuke with a fist clenched to hammer the cocky grin off of his face. It reminded the old man too much of Ranma's _fake, infinitely inferior, _male form.

"Take this brat!" Happosai shouted, his fist flying to Yusuke's face, but only hit a finger as big as his whole little fist, "Grrr!"

"What was that 'bout making me do your dirty work, Mr pervy smurf?" Yusuke remarked mockingly, Happosai scowling furiously at him, "I didn't quite catch that with your bitching and all," Yusuke's smirk was driving Happosai's nuts at this point, much to the gawks of the martial artists of Soun, Genma, Akane, and Ranma.

"What? Cat got your tongue midget geezer?" Yusuke mocked the old pervert.

"I don't believe it! He blocked grandpa Happosai's punch with just his right index finger!" Akane pointed out the obvious with her gaping expression increasing by the second.

"Gee. Thank you captain-obvious," Ranma quipped dryly, rolling her eyes as Akane glared at her, "This guy, just how he is so strong that he can manhandle the old freak like that?"

Akane sighed, "I wish I knew Ranma. But hey, just be grateful he can. That way we can get the pressure point chart off of grandpa Happosai!" Akane smiled brightly, making Ranma's eyes go wide at the rationalizing thought of one Akane Tendo.

"For once you make a valid point instead of lettin' off hot air," Ranma said, a smirk crossing her face while Akane frowned at her. The anti-social redheaded girl always had to insult her in one form or the next.

Ranma batted her eyelashes at Yusuke to make her eyes glow in a sparkling radiance of happiness, "Alright! Kick his ass, man! Mister, I dunno who you are, but I don't care, 'cause today you're my hero!" Ranma gushed with delightedness at Yusuke's dominating display of Happosai.

"Pervert." Akane muttered distastefully.

Boys could be so icky.

"Looks like I got my own cheerleader," Yusuke smirked at the straining look on Happosai's face as if he was trying to will Yusuke's index finger to break with his mind alone. Due to the height difference Yusuke had to bend his knees to keep his finger connected to Happosai's fist as gravity took over and brought the incredibly diminutive perverted martial artist to his feet.

"Traitor!" Happosai screamed.

The old man pulled his fist back and slammed his other one at Yusuke, only to be left exasperated again once Yusuke blocked it with his same finger.

Stubborn and resilient to the end, Happosai just started letting off a bombardment of flying rocket-esque punches with enough power to eradicate buildings into pieces, all in the hopes he could land at least one blow on the annoying brat who dared to spoil his fun.

Happosai could feel his frustration building up inside of him and he gnashed his teeth at the sight of his blurry punches getting parried away from a boy's mere index finger as if Happosai was an ant beneath the insanely strong boy's feet. The wall was starting to crumble from the force of Happosai's punches colliding with Yusuke's index finger.

"Damn. That old letch can't even hit this guy!" Ranma awed. The black haired teenage boy was clearly the strongest person Ranma had ever saw, 'Meh. I bet I coulda took on the old letch and this guy if I had my strength.'

"Saotome are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Soun trembled out of eager anticipation.

*Grr.* Genma growled affirmatively, trying to contain his look of thoughtless, but the sight of his old master/tormentor finally getting what he had coming to him was enough to send Genma's excitement skyrocketing. Genma held up a sign, *The old troll is finally paying for all his sins against us! This boy is our saviour! We should praise him! Praise him! Praise him!*

Soun covered his eyes with his forearm as tears poured down his eyes, "I never thought this day would come! How I've longed to see it! Thank you lad! Thank you lad!" Soun profusely thanked Yusuke.

Genma's sign flipped around to reveal more words, *Yes! Pandas everywhere are in your debt!*

"Oh father," Kasumi smiled lightly at Soun.

"Grrrr!" Happosai growled exasperatedly, and by this point the entire side of the four-sided wall(s) they were on was literally a mess of spider-webs, "Hold still so I can wallop you one already, brat!" Happosai's fist was abruptly caught halfway to Yusuke's index finger by the very same finger and a thumb helping it hold Happosai's tiny fist in place effortlessly.

"Sure."

"Huh?"

"Will ya be paying in cash or by credit card for your licence to hit card?"

"Panties, I guess, fella?"

Happosai felt a bulldozing hit hammer his nose in and force a sickening pop to reverberate through the air, causing Ranma, Akane, Genma, and Soun to wince reflexively, while Happosai was knocked to the grassy ground from the force of Yusuke's hit. Grass was usually a safe place to land, however the amount of power Yusuke packed into his finger-poke to Happosai's nose, made the old man's landing place feel like solid metal!

A boulder-sized crater opened up underneath the hurt Happosai and quaked the ground enough to throw the others off balance. Soun reacted accordingly to grab his two non-martial artist daughters in Kasumi and Nabiki by their shoulders to keep them from falling over.

Akane and Ranma were skilled enough in the martial arts to regain their own balances without assistance while animal-Genma fell clumsily to the ground.

"Oh my," Kasumi gasped, feeling her father's shaky hand on her arm which kept her from falling over, "I'm going to have to order new grass."

"I think you'll have to order more than that if this fight continues, Kasumi-dear," Soun muttered like he felt car-sick as he removed his hands from his daughters' arms, sighing at the little demonstration of the black haired boy's destructive power, "I do believe the lad's hiding more power than that if he can do this much with only his finger."

"But papa, perhaps he isn't too bad. I mean he is only using his finger after all to knock grandpa Happosai down," Akane said in defence of the strange powerhouse boy who made Ranma look like a baby in comparison to a grown man.

"That's true dear. Perhaps the lad isn't so bad," Soun confirmed sagely, while the black haired boy dropped into the garden with his hands in his pockets, looking at the staggering Happosai with a condescending smile on his face.

"Hurts like a motherfucker, don't it midget-geezer?" Yusuke asked tauntingly.

Happosai managed to stand up on jelly legs, nursing his broken nose which had blood pouring down from it, "Y-You, y-you, y-you, y-you," Happosai stammered, tears beginning to leak from his big round eyes.

*He's gonna erupt!* Genma pulled out another sign from nowhere as the tension escalated, each one of the inhabitants of the Tendo Dojo all held their breaths in feared anticipation for Happosai to release his battle aura.

"You broke my nose, you big meanie!

Nabiki, Soun, Genma, Ranma, and Akane all face-faulted at the babyish wail of Happosai, and to Happosai's disappointment the culprit of his broken nose merely pulled out a box of cigarettes and a lighter before putting one in his mouth and lighting it up, taking a drag and exhaling the smoke with an air of nonchalance around him.

"So I did," Yusuke confessed coolly, putting away his box of cigarettes, and lighter before inhaling another ounce of smoke, "The question is, whatcha gonna do about it midget-geezer?" Yusuke asked while simultaneously releasing a cloud of smoke from his lips.

Yusuke's eye held a challenging glint to it as he stared at Happosai in calm indifference.

Happosai sniffed, "You big meanie! You're meant to respect your elders!"

"Aw! Get over it and man-up, ya old freak!" The feisty redheaded girl screeched.

Yusuke turned his head to look at Ranma with a dumbfounded look on his face.

"What? Whatcha lookin' at me like that?" Ranma asked demandingly, though she blinked dumbly afterwards, pointing lamely at herself, "Is there something on my face?"

"I think I'm startin' to dig ya," Yusuke grinned, laughing, "Damn, I gotta new friend, one easy on the eyes too, which is always a bonus."

Ranma blushed, "…Well, thanks, I guess."

"Ranma-chan!" Happosai wailed and flung himself at Ranma, tears flying off of his eyes, his arms outstretched to grope Ranma-chan's D-cup breasts, "Don't leave me for him!"

"Ugh! Stay the hell away from me, you old freak!" Ranma shouted, instinctively covering herself up.

Ranma was well aware of the fact that she couldn't send the old man of perversion flying off into orbit with her superhuman strength as was par usual in their daily ritual since it wasn't available to her due to some deus ex machina nonsense Happosai ripped from his ass to seal her strength away, so she settled with covering herself up with her arms.

Luckily, her arms weren't needed to block the pervert from her breasts since Happosai was treated to a burning sensation in the exact wound the pebble made on his forehead instead of the luscious feel of Ranma's breasts.

Happosai dropped to the ground several feet away from Ranma who couldn't see the old man rolling around and wailing excruciatingly, as the colour green blocked her view from Happosai.

"T-The l-lad's s-so f-fast! I… didn't even see him move." Soun stuttered as he gaped at Yusuke's amazing speed along with Nabiki, Genma, Akane and most of all Ranma.

'D-did h-he... j-just,' Ranma-chan gulped hard, 'S-Shield m-me from the old freak's attempt to grope me?' Not once in Ranma's life had the boy/girl ever had someone shield her/him from danger, it was the exact opposite actually. Most people for better or for worse had always aimed to inflict damage on Ranma. Her own pops tied her to a tree log wrapped in tuna and bread, and doused (her/him) in sardine-juice for hungry, aggressive cats Genma had agitated so they'd put extra effort in their ruthless attempts to eat Ranma.

And Genma done that all so Ranma could master a deadly prominent style called Neko-ken (Cat-fist), and he actually had the audacity to be disappointed in Ranma for not mastering the Neko-ken _consciously, _despite the fact that all the reckless free-loading man did was leave his child mentally scarred.

Now Ranma can't even go near a cat without freaking out.

Because her father's incompetence: Ranma had a cat-phobia.

Luckily, Ranma developed a defence mechanism to deal with being too close to cats.

But that was a story for another time.

So it was understandable if anyone showed Ranma a small amount of kindness she was bound to be attached to that person in the hopes she could have a true friend. Fiancées and rivals didn't count, especially since the fiancées were all nuts and the rival was likely to turn on her if she insulted Akane.

'What a guy,' Ranma mused, almost in a daze while Yusuke stood protectively in front of her.

'Huh? Ranma?' Akane thought as she noticed the redhead's stupor, and jumped the gun instantly, 'Argh! That pervert! He's probably gonna flirt for some free training sessions from this man so he can beat grandpa Happosai! Ugh!'

"You got some nerve pulling a stunt like that midget-geezer," Yusuke's casual words broke Ranma out of her stupor and Akane out of her righteous musings while Happosai scowled at Yusuke, "You zapped this Ranma-chick of her fire-power, but ya still have the balls to cop a feel. If nuthin' else you get points for tryin'."

Ranma flinched at being identified as a girl, "I'm not a girl!"

"Yeah, _right._ And I'm a monkey's uncle," Yusuke coolly told Ranma without sparing her glance.

"I'm not! I'm a guy, damn it!" Ranma insisted as she stomped her foot on the ground with a pout of annoyance on her face.

"Yeah, yeah," Yusuke said. His tone said he didn't believe her and wasn't interested in hearing her chat lies to him.

"I am a guy," Ranma said in an almost desperate attempt to get Yusuke to take her seriously, but the former spirit detective wasn't having any of it.

"It's not fun to have the shoe on the other foot, eh Ranma?" Akane quipped dryly, making Ranma sigh with a defeated air around her. She was so going to batter this guy once she had her full strength back.

"That hurt!" Happosai growled as he held his head.

"The feeling's mutual midget-geezer," Yusuke groused with a serious look on his face while he looked over his shoulder at Ranma, the implications Happosai understood easily enough.

"I'm not handing over the pressure point chart unless Ranma puts on this bra!" Happosai shouted stubbornly, pulling out a frilly lacy bra, much to Ranma's annoyance while an lecherous smirk appeared on Happosai's face.

"I told ya a billion times already, you old freak! I ain't wea-." Yusuke silenced the girl by sharply raising his index and middle fingers.

"What thingumajig would that be again midget-geezer, the one in my back-pocket?" Yusuke said calmly, causing Akane and Ranma to gawk at him.

"What are you talking about brat? I have the chart right here," Happosai shot back as he pulled out a folded up piece of paper, unfolding it to show Yusuke, Ranma, Akane, and the others the picture of a blank man with kanji-markings pointed to the pressure point areas on the body, "You ain't getting it. So mmm!" Happosai stuck his tongue out at Yusuke in a childish manner.

"Unless Ranma-chan wants to wear a bra," Happosai added with a victory smirk on his face.

"Is that so, eh midget-geezer?" Yusuke asked, his dark tone and evil smirk made Akane, Ranma, and Soun shiver involuntarily, "Last time I checked it was already in my hand."

"Your petty tricks won't work on me fell-." Happosai blinked once Yusuke blindly swiped his hand across the air, then coolly folded his arms across his chest in a blink of an eye, "What's that gonna do for ya, fella?" Happosai waved his hand, raising an eyebrow once he never heard the rustling of paper, "Huh?" He looked at his hand in confusion and gasped, "Oh no! The chart's gone!"

Hope filled Ranma's and Akane's eyes as Ranma peered around Yusuke to see him unfold his fingers, revealing a square-shaped piece of paper, "Like I said, it's already in my hand midget-geezer." The others were left speechless at Yusuke's display of speed to easily take the pressure point chart away from Happosai.

"Booyah!" Ranma yelled cheerfully, throwing her arms in the air, "I'm gonna be cured! I'm gonna be cured!"

"Oh Ranma, I'm so happy for you!" Akane smiled brightly.

"Way to go, mister!" In her overly happy mood, Ranma swung her arms around Yusuke's neck and pressed herself against his back.

"H-He a-actually d-did i-it. T-The l-lad actually took something back from the master," Soun stammered in debrief.

*Hurrah! My son won't be a hopeless weakling anymore and we can be free of the evil master!* Genma held up a sign with a gleeful expression on his face.

"Oh my, that young man really is strong," Kasumi said with a pleasant smile on her face.

Kasumi was just relieved that Ranma would be able to get her strength back and stop being miserable.

"Haha. It was nuthin' Ranma-_chan. _Just taking out the garbage," Yusuke jeered.

Ranma purged herself from Yusuke and gave him something akin to a shy smile, "I'm so gonna whoop your ass for that one 'Mister No name'…"

"Alright. I see. In that case the name's Yusuke. Yusuke Urameshi's at your service, Ranma-_chan_," Yusuke introduced himself, still with that teasing smile on his face.

'Yep. I'm screwed,' Nabiki realized.

"Oh! You're so going down to Chinatown once ya get this darn thing off of my back Yusuke!" Ranma assured with a challenging smirk on her face.

"I look for-."

"No!" Happosai shouted ragingly, throwing himself to the ground and pounding the grass with his little legs and arms, "It's not fair! You cheated! Cheater! You tricked me!" Happosai was crying melodramatically, "Don't you know you're supposed to respect your elders!"

Yusuke was just unfolding the pressure point chart and was looking at it with an air of nonchalance around him. As far as he was concerned he had won and he owed that dirty old man nothing. Besides, guys like Happosai were beneath Yusuke in Yusuke's opinion.

"Give it a rest you old letch! You've lost! Yu-chan won! Deal with it!" Ranma demanded, taking satisfaction seeing Yusuke flinch upon being called Yu-chan. He could just feel the teasing smirk plastered on Ranma's face and saw it as he looked at her with a glare.

"Don't call me that!" Yusuke commanded and added under his breath, "I hated that nickname when my mom called me that, and I hate it now!"

"All is fair in love and war, Yu-_chan_," Ranma insisted teasingly, making Yusuke sigh while Akane glared angrily at Ranma.

"Fair dues then," Yusuke said, turning Ranma around and flashing through some hand-signs, holding up his index finger which suddenly had a pinkish glow on the tip of it.

Ranma flinched as Yusuke ran his finger around her back, looking for the stupid thing which was left on her by Happosai, "Checkmate. King me." Yusuke found the mark sealing Ranma's strength away, "This might sting like a bitch now, but-. Meh. I'm sure you can hack it."

"Just get it over with already! My foot's made reservations with the old freak's ass," Ranma quipped, then shrieked painfully once Yusuke pushed his glowing pinkish finger onto the spot sealing Ranma's strength away. It was like Yusuke had pressed a lighter to her back. A sizzling sound even came from Ranma's back complete with stream flowing up in the air.

"Kyaaaaa!" Ranma screamed painfully, spinning around and glaring at Yusuke, "Whatcha do that for? Did ya have to make it so darn painful, Yu-chan?"

"I told ya it was gonna sting like a bitch, Ranma-_chan!_" Yusuke teased.

Ranma pouted at Yusuke before turning to Happosai with a smirk on her features, cracking her knuckles, "Now, you old freak. I think it's 'bout time my fists got reacquainted with your face! Whaddya say to that?"

"NO! Traitors! All of you have abandoned me for _him_! I won't allow it!" Happosai wailed, unleashing his battle-aura and increasing the size of himself exponentially, becoming a giant with demonic-esque glowing blue eyes, much to the horrors of Soun, Genma, Akane, and Ranma.

"N-Now, m-master, p-please calm down, I-I'm s-sure the l-lad meant well," Soun squeaked and quickly dropped to his knees, bowing his head multiple of times to the giant that was Happosai, "Please don't kill us master!"

*Spare us oh so great one!*

"No one's gonna die on my watch! Geez. Take a chill pill y'all," Yusuke muttered and Ranma was almost taken back by the conviction in his voice.

"So you think you can stop me eh fella?" Happosai smirked malevolently, "I'll have ya know I'm gonna take Ranma-chan away with me and make her do all sorts of things if she won't put on the bra I got for her!"

"Fat chance that'll ever happen," Yusuke said before Ranma could go on a rant stating how that wasn't going to happen, so instead the redhead just stopped glaring at Happosai and peered at Yusuke.

"Oh. Why's that fella? You don't even come up to my knee now!"

"'Cause ya already have a flight booked for America. See ya."

Yusuke casually stabbed his index finger out and sent a white-ish beam-esque wave of pressure at Happosai, nailing the old man's pervert in his forehead and launching him in the air and away from the Tendo Dojo, back to his normal tiny size.

"Ayaaaaaaaa!" The sight of Happosai was no more but a mere sparkle in the sky.

"Pop and away goes the weasel," Yusuke quipped as he blew his index finger.

"Whoa! How'd ya do that? You gotta teach me that trick Yu-chan!" Ranma asked gleefully.

"What trick?" Yusuke asked in return.

"Ugh! Don't play dumb with me! The one you just used to send that old freak blasting off to the moon!"

"Ah." Yusuke made a noise of understanding.

"So can you show it to me. Pretty please with a cherry on top," Ranma gushed, putting on her cute girl act to coax Yusuke into teaching her a new move.

"I could, but-."

"But." Ranma said expectantly, 'You're mine!'

"But that ain't a move." Yusuke stated while Ranma and Akane blinked in confusion.

"But if that wasn't a move then how did you send grandpa Happosai away like that Urameshi-san?" Akane wondered curiously.

"That? That was just some air pressure released from me jerking my finger forward like Speedy Gonzales running a marathon," Yusuke dismissed, making shock expressions appear on Ranma's, Akane's, Soun's, and Genma's faces.

"You mean you defeated the master with nothing more but a simple shockwave?" Soun asked to make sure and gawked once Yusuke nodded.

Soun regained his composure before walking over to Yusuke and placing a calming hand on the boy's shoulder, "Urameshi-kun, I think I speak for all of us here when I say, you have our thanks for your courageous victory over the master."

"Think nuthin of it, old man. I was bored. Nuff said," Yusuke brushed off the praise coolly.

Soun coughed into his fist a couple of times, "Yes. In any case why don't you stay around the Dojo for a while? It's the least we could do after what you did for us today."

*I second that!*

"But papa we don't even know Urameshi-san that well," Akane whined.

"Nonsense Akane-dear, Yusuke-kun's a fine young man!" Soun said with a happy smile on his face.

*I second that too!*

"You just want Urameshi-san around so he can protect you and uncle Saotome from grandpa Happosai," Akane sulked and Soun sputtered before quickly regaining his recompose.

"Well the offer's up if you're interested," Soun said to Yusuke with a look which just practically begged the powerhouse boy to take up his offer in the fear the master would return and kill them all for their insolence.

With Yusuke here Soun could feel reassured that he and his family were safe from harm.

"Sure. Not like I got anything better to do," Yusuke groused, much to Akane's chagrin as the youngest Tendo stomped off into the Dojo.

"Excellent. Kasumi will prepare dinner," Soun assured gleefully.

The evil master wouldn't be able to touch them now.

"I'll get started right away, father," Kasumi assured pleasantly, sauntering into the Dojo, and Nabiki chose that moment to follow her sister before Yusuke caught sight of her.

"Come Saotome. The day is young and master free. Let us play a game of shogi." Soun suggested chirpily.

*You're on!* Genma's sign read as he followed Soun over to the porch to play a game of shogi.

"What the fuck's up with that panda?" Yusuke asked Ranma.

"Don't ask." Ranma replied dryly.

"This place is looking nutter the longer I stay here." Yusuke said.

"Welcome to Nerima: home to the escapees of the asylum." Ranma quipped and Yusuke hummed in agreement with the red head girl, "So have you got any other techniques to show me, Yu-chan? I know you must have some after seeing the way you creamed the old freak into next week."

"Hmm." Yusuke hummed like he was really considering what to show the cheerful girl. "Well I got this," Yusuke held up his hand and shaped it in the form of a gun. A basketball-shaped ball of luminous spirit energy formed on the tip of Yusuke's index finger to Ranma's amazement before the ball expanded and grew to cover Yusuke's body.

Yusuke casually lifted up his hand to point his cannon-beam of energy at the harmless clouds.

"**Reigan (Spirit Gun)**!"

The ball of spirit energy left Yusuke's finger and roofed the sky apart before Ranma's stunned-filled eyes.

"Awesome!" Ranma said cheerfully, "Show me that reigan-thingy a few more times and I'll have it down in no time flat!"

"Sure. I got an infinite amount of gas in the tank and nuthin' but time." Yusuke replied and Ranma smiled brightly, "At least I think my hands are untied." Yusuke couldn't shake the feeling he was forgetting something or someone as he fired off his spirit gun for Ranma-chan.

XxX

"Now how do I get out of here?" Ryoga wondered to himself, having only just managed to find his way out of the bathroom of the old lady's house Yusuke brought him into to change him back into his birth form.

"Sunny, your tea's getting cold. You should come drink it now." The old lady said kindly once Ryoga found himself walking into the living room of where she sat watching Jerry Springer.

"U-Uhm. No thank you madam. I'm just trying to find the door," Ryoga said shyly, walking away from the old lady, and walking in the opposite direction of where the front door was, "Damn it, Saotome. If that damn ingrate wasn't so mean to Akane-chan then Yusuke-san wouldn't have had to leave me here to go teach Saotome a lesson! Damn it Saotome." Somehow it was always Ranma's fault. No matter what happened to the lost boy, he would always find a reason to blame it on Saotome.

"CURSE YOU SAOTOME!"


	3. One Who Accepts

**Disclaimer: I don't own YuYu Hakusho or Ranma 1/2 **

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 3<strong>

**One Who Accepts **

Ranma Saotome: heir to the Saotome Anything Goes School of Martial Arts: doesn't lose.

Ever.

This was a well-known fact.

No matter what obstacle stood in the she-boy's way Ranma was always able to overcome it via sheer determination and straight-up doggedness.

Be it to officially win a grand prize dinner she and her father Genma had ignorantly started digging into without realizing it was the grand prize of a tournament, only to receive the kiss of death from the Amazon girl of hence she'd defeated. Ranma didn't back down from her.

In fact she eventually changed back into a guy for the vengeful seeking murdering amazon-warrior, and to her surprise the girl wanted to now marry her, because in Amazon-laws, if an outsider male defeated an amazon-warrior then he was deemed 'fit' enough to marry into the tribe of prideful women.

On the contrary, if an outsider female subdued an amazon-woman then said amazon-woman would be honour-bound to hunt down the one who had put her in her place and murder her to restore her pride and honour… after giving the victor the kiss of death, mafia-esque, of course.

Ranma was backed into a corner either way.

But that didn't mean the martial artist was going to give up!

Hell no!

The Amazon warrior named Shampoo took a personal liking to Ranma and sought to gain his affections so she could marry him/her, and even tried to forcefully erase Akane out of the picture by wiping out a portion of her memory, the parts containing Ranma.

Many would have thought it would have saddened Ranma to lose his/her quote-on-quote 'official fiancé', but Ranma, friends deprived as she/he was, felt hurt when Akane showed no recognition upon looking at him/her after waking up from the brainwashing given to her by Shampoo.

That in hindsight was just another obstacle to overcome for the pigtailed martial artist and luckily Akane soon regained her real memories of Ranma, much to 'P-chan''s disappointment.

The whole brainwashing saga still didn't humble the arrogant girl in the youngest Tendo, who still had the audacity to insist she was a martial artist and not a damsel in distress, one even on the level of Ranma Saotome.

History says otherwise… but I digress.

The attempts to see Ranma married off to Shampoo didn't stop there and were even amped up by ten once Shampoo's anciently great and very powerful grandmother, Cologne, came down to Japan to check on her granddaughter's efforts in her quest to slay girl-Ranma. Needlessly to say, that went out the window when she discovered Ranma was in fact half boy/ half girl.

Ranma was strong.

It had been a while since a worthy male had impressed an Amazon-warrior since _he_ last visited the tribe of prideful women.

Cologne had to get Ranma married to Shampoo. She just had to.

The ancient old woman around Happosai's age and height placed the cat tongue on Ranma while she was in girl-form so even remotely warm water would feel immensely hot, to the point where Ranma wouldn't be able to stand warm water long enough to turn back into a guy.

Cologne had hoped the feisty redheaded girl would lose patience and surrendered herself to Shampoo so she could bathe in warm water, and be a guy, however, Ranma Saotome - Does. Not. Lose!

Ever!

Ranma's sheer determination proved too much for the old lady, who wasn't evil enough to keep the cat tongue placed on Ranma. Cologne handed over the cure to Ranma's cat tongue in the form of a pill called the 'phoenix pill'. Ranma swallowed it and thus was able to happily dive into a warm bath to become a guy once again.

With all these trials the feisty redheaded girl had faced and overcome it seemed nothing could beat her. Nothing.

Only today had Ranma learned the hard-way there were some battles she just couldn't win.

"Goddamn it!" Ranma pouted, stomping towards the Tendo Dojo after Kasumi had called her and her tormentor for dinner, dripping wet with the water making her clothes stick to her body. It did wonders to bring out her curvy hips, and busty boobies, as Yusuke would vouch for since he took a moment to admire the stunning redheaded girl.

"Are you sure that last burning shoot even worked, Yu-chan?" Ranma asked grumpily, stepping onto the porch of the Tendo Dojo.

"As sure as I ever will be, Ranma-chan," Yusuke assured the girl with a smirk on his face, following the girl into the Tendo Dojo and directly into the living room area while Ranma groused.

"Well you did a half-assed job!"

"Naw. I was just too hot to handle for ya."

Ranma turned her head to glare at Yusuke, but the half-demon merely shrugged it off, and sat on the floor in a leg-crossed position next to Genma who was back in his human form.

A brooding Ranma merely sat down next to her new friend in a Yusuke-esque sitting position except she lazily had her hand resting on her cheek, looking at the food surrounding the table lackadaisically.

Nabiki abruptly twitched while Yusuke observed the food Kasumi had prepared with a gleeful smile on his face.

"Lookin' good I must say, complimentary to the chef," Yusuke said, a thoughtful look on his face, trying to remember who that cowardly guy said would prepare dinner before looking over at the traditional house lady who was just finishing off serving a bowl of rice, sushi, and tempura.

"Why, thank you, Urameshi-kun," Kasumi smiled gently, offering Yusuke the bowl she had served for him, "I hope you like."

"If its half as good as it smells, then I think my stomach will develop an addiction for it miss-," Yusuke hinted by rolling his left wrist while Kasumi handed him a pair of chopsticks he took with his right hand.

"Kasumi Tendo," Kasumi supplied helpfully, still with that ever present smile on her face.

'Tendo, eh?' Yusuke mused, pursing his lips while a hint of worry was seen in Nabiki's usual disinterested eyes, "Ah. I'm beginning to see the picture now," Yusuke stated, jerking his thumb in the direction of Genma who sneakily tried to steal Yusuke's meal, but the former spirit detective was not to be fooled or robbed, "And food thief here is?" Genma gave Yusuke a sheepish smile and retracted his hand.

"Goddamn it pops," Ranma muttered sourly.

"Oh. That's Uncle Genma Saotome. Ranma-chan's father," Kasumi explained, causing Ranma to blush in embarrassment while Yusuke elbowed her in a suggestive manner. And because no one back-chatted to Kasumi, Ranma just looked down at her lap bashfully.

Yusuke turned steely eyes on Soun which made the head of the household gulp, "I take it you're the chief of this fortress, eh?"

"Y-Yes, l-lad, y-you may call me S-Soun Tendo," Soun suddenly felt very weary, and nervous in front of the powerhouse boy. He did outclass and outmatch the master like he was nothing after all. Soun just hoped Yusuke wasn't disappointed in him that he couldn't drive Happosai away, as he was the head of the Tendo Dojo after all.

A grimace appeared on Yusuke's features, "Ack. You shoulda drove that old fart outta here long before I showed up."

Soun coughed into his hand, "Y-Yes. Well. Not everything is as easy as it seems, Yusuke-kun," Soun said calmly, hoping his response would be enough to satisfy Yusuke.

"Hm. So it seems to be," Yusuke grunted indifferently.

Genma grinned, patting the powerhouse boy on his shoulder, "It may not be as easy as one, two, three for us, but you, boy, defeating that old troll is a walk in the park."

"Hey! What 'bout me old man?" Ranma asked belligerently, feeling offended about being overlooked like she was nothing more but a liability.

Genma growled, "All that time and effort I invested in you could've been for nothing if Yusuke-boy hadn't shown up to deal with the master, you're a disappointment."

Ranma fumed, "How the hell was I supposed to know that old freak was gonna zap away my strength!?"

"A true martial artist would've been prepared for anything!" Genma argued sagely.

"And what if they ain't eh? 'Cause, I dunno, a dirty old perv might pull a trick from his bag of deus ex machina bullshit they've never seen before!"

"Then they turn it into a training experience! Haven't I always taught you that, boy!?" Genma said heatedly, causing a scowl to appear on Ranma's face, her teeth gnashing together, and her hands balled so tightly into fists, her nails threatened to break her skin.

"Argh! I'm so gonna wedge my foot up your ass ol-."

"Jeez wiz. I didn't know a gal could spray it like that." Yusuke broke in, interrupting Ranma's rant with a gleeful grin on his face, making her sulk at being called a girl again, "Ain't that swell and good."

"Shaddup! I told ya already that I'm not a girl but a guy!"

"You don't look like a guy to me."

"Well I am!"

Ranma squeaked involuntarily; a jabbing feeling pushing her left breast in made Nabiki, Soun, and Genma gape, "Your watermelons says otherwise." Yusuke said casually, his finger idly poking Ranma's left boob in like it was meant to do so.

Ranma's face turned a violent red, "You perv!" Her fist abruptly went right through Yusuke as if the boy was a hallucination, "Huh?" Ranma blinked only once before pouting in remembrance of her fists or feet flying directly through the ghostly teen during their sparring match.

Ranma and Yusuke had been sparring for a while after Yusuke had shown her his spirit gun. After Ranma had tried and failed to pull off a spirit gun Yusuke started teasing her like she'd usually do to Akane just to annoy her.

Akane's little quip earlier, "It's not nice to have the shoe on the other foot, eh Ranma?" hit the nail on the head. It wasn't fun for Ranma to be in Akane's position facing off against someone who was so far above her level it wasn't even funny; just like how Ranma was miles ahead of Akane's level to the point one shouldn't even make jokes about it.

So instead of Ranma teasing Akane, it was Yusuke satirizing Ranma. One thing led to the other, and both Ranma and Yusuke started sparring with Yusuke clearly holding most of his strength back and effortlessly dodging Ranma's attacks, refusing to hit her barring the occasional shove he gave her to make her fall into the koi pond.

Even when Ranma resorted to taunting and gloating Yusuke in the hopes she could make him slip up, just once, the overly powerful teen remained cool and calm as a cucumber.

That in itself annoyed Ranma who couldn't even land on a single flipping hit on the speedy warrior.

"Damn you and your speed Yu-chan! Damn you to hell already!" Ranma griped.

Genma and Soun just gaped at the two. They had seen Yusuke sparring with Ranma, and were utterly amazed how the former spirit detective easily dealt with Ranma. The way Yusuke dealt with Ranma's petty taunts were_ eerily_ reminiscent of the way a master handled his disobedient and rowdy student.

"Keep dreaming _babe_. One day you might be able to see the great Urameshi-sama flashing from place to the next!" Yusuke jeered with a cocky grin on his face.

"How many times do I have to tell ya I ain't no girl!?" Ranma raged.

"Sure. I'll believe that, when pigs fly," Yusuke offered with a nod of his head in a way to patronize Ranma.

"Argh!" Ranma screeched furiously, shooting up to her feet like thunder while Yusuke just dug into his meal, "Fine! Then I'll show you I'm a guy, Yu-chan!" Yusuke just waved his hand like he was dealing with a child having a tantrum.

Ranma just grumped and stomped off in the direction of the kitchen.

"What's eating her?" Yusuke asked casually, almost like he hadn't upset the _girl._

Soun just set his bowl down calmly, "Well the lad's experiencing some difficulty coming to terms with his future plans with my lovely daughter. He has a lot on his shoulders being the heir to both mine and Saotome's schools."

Yusuke raised his eyebrow. Ranma was probably a guy, judging by the way Soun called her a 'he' and a 'lad', meaning a 'male'.

"Hmph. It's nothing my boy won't be able to overcome. I've spent twelve years moulding him into the perfection of a man among men of anything goes!" Genma gloated.

"Huh. Well that's the dumbest thing I've heard old man," Yusuke groused, and Genma would've scowled or lectured Yusuke for having so little faith in his methods if it wasn't for the dark warning look the half-demon sent the bald martial artist.

Nabiki flinched and nearly choked on her food once Yusuke turned nonchalant eyes onto her, "So, since we're waiting for the she-man to come back and show me her neat little trick why don't you tell me who you are?"

'I was hoping he would forget about me if I stayed nondescript. After all what interest would a super-powered martial artist have in an innocent school girl?' Nabiki mused sardonically, hiding her anxiety at introducing herself to the hotshot delinquent from Sarayashiki Jr High School like an expert lawyer masking her fear of her client getting sentenced to a life of jail.

"Nabiki. Nabiki Tendo," Nabiki Tendo introduced herself in such a professional manner she almost regretted it upon seeing the pensive expression marking Yusuke's face.

"Nabiki Tendo," Yusuke repeated as if testing the name for himself on his tongue. Then he snapped his thumb, "Oh, yeah. You were the orchestra of that whole pseudo-betting operation back when I used to go to my ol' educational-jail." Yusuke remembered.

Soun and Genma blinked in confusion and looked from Nabiki to Yusuke.

Kasumi only had a pleasant smile on her face while she finished serving her father a plate.

"Still am." Nabiki said coolly.

"Oh. How nice. You and Nabiki-imouto know each other," Kasumi smiled.

"Not officially, but you could say Nabs here was the brains behind the curtains to my brawn," Yusuke quipped.

The puzzlement on the faces of the masters of the Saotome and Tendo schools still wouldn't leave their faces; on the contrary, it only enhanced with the blinking of their eyes, their heads shifting from one youth to the next as if to put the missing pieces of the puzzle together.

"Isn't that right, Nabs?" Yusuke asked in an expectant, but also satirizing manner.

"Yes, 'oh-so great one'," Nabiki confirmed in a sarcastic manner, rolling her eyes.

"Nabiki-chan, that isn't anyway to speak to a guest," Kasumi admonished.

"Meh. No skin off my bones," Yusuke waved his hand dismissively, before adding in wry, dark humour, "Nabs and I can get better acquainted much later…"

Yusuke's mocking and grim tone made Soun and Genma wince. The patriarch looked at his daughter and blinked. If he didn't know any better he could have sworn he saw her eyes wide with honest-to-god worry filling them.

But that was nonsense.

Soun Tendo's middle daughter lived up to the expectancy of being the second oldest sibling out of her and her two other sisters, Akane and Kasumi, mentally anyway. She was second only to Kasumi in that aspect. Nothing ever broke through the stoic business-esque girl's professional demeanour.

For Yusuke to accomplish such a feat meant he was more evil than the devilish master, Happosai!

'No!' Soun mentally berated himself, smiling bashfully, 'Saotome would have my head if he found out I was thinking like that,' Because none were more villainous and repulsive than the devilish master to Saotome and his old friend Soun, 'Yusuke-kun's a good lad. He restored Ranma-kun's strength and sent the master away. Surely that signals he has nothing but good intentions.'

Soun nodded contently, satisfied with his rationalizing thought. That look of 'worry' in his daughter's eyes he thought he'd saw was obviously just an hallucination his overjoyed mind made up, probably as a warning that the master was coming back, bigger, stronger, and better than ever.

But they'd cross that bridge once it came.

Besides, Yusuke defeated the master, he could do it again.

"Okay, Yu-chan! You want proof of my manhood, then here it is!" Ranma stormed back into the kitchen wielding nothing more but a distinctive golden-coloured kettle that Yu-chan would come to realize just how prominent that damned reoccurring object was.

"Huh? You gonna serve us tea, princess? Gee, ain't that swell- of ya!" Yusuke mocked Ranma cheerfully, shoving a mouthful of sushi in his mouth.

"No, dummy, I'm gonna use it to show ya I'm really a guy, not your babe!"

Yusuke just sat his bowl in between his crossed legs and half-turned his body to give Ranma an amused grin, "Heh. This ought to be good. Alright. I'll signal ya the green light. Shed the light on me then."

Ranma snarled. She hated not being taken seriously, it was such a foreign concept to the redhead she didn't know how to deal with it. As long as she could remember it had always been her/him who lackadaisically trounced or outright outclassed anyone her age.

Starting with Akane, to Tatewaki Kuno, to Mousse, and even Ryoga Hibiki of all the fighters Ranma had faced, had been put in their places with insouciant, half-hearted efforts on Ranma's part. Although lazily beating Ryoga Hibiki, the next man of steel, had taken satirizing to get the boy angered so he'd attack her with the sloppiness of a street brawler rather than the grace of a skilled martial artist.

Was that a dirty tactic?

Sure.

But then again one can't be an heir of the school of *Anything Goes* Martial Arts without willing to dirty one's hands.

Cheating was just par for the course with Ranma's style.

"Just watch and learn bucko, 'cause you're 'bout to be schooled!" Ranma assured and Yusuke ushered her to do her worse with a motion of his hands.

Without further ado, Ranma bumped the hot water on her head.

Instantly, the redheaded girl evolved like a Pokémon. The red hair of Ranma turned black and 'her' once light complexion became tanned. Ranma still had the blue eyes Yusuke had seen but now Ranma was taller, taller than Akane but still a little shorter than Yusuke. And the muscles in Ranma's arms were clearly visible as if they were proof Ranma was a high calibre martial artist.

"And now you plant the seed instead of carrying the egg."

"Now do y'know my secret Y-. Wait. What?" Ranma's dry statement died in his throat right there as he processed Yusuke's last quip.

"What?"

"W-what y-you said before?"

"'Bout the birds and the bees?"

"No. 'Bout the president gettin' shot! Of course I meant 'bout the birds and the effing bees, Yu-chan!" Ranma shouted heatedly.

Yusuke shrugged, "Yeah. What of it?"

"You just implied I could have babies in my girl-form!" That thought alone was enough to make Ranma throw up. He had never thought about getting pregnant in his girl-form. The curse form was enough as a nuisance as it was. Dealing with the things women had to go through was not on Ranma's list of things to do, but he had to unfortunately. Like the time when he had been trapped in his girl-form for several weeks by the old ghoul.

After four weeks Ranma started to bleed down 'there'.

Ranma had never felt so uncomfortable in his life.

Yusuke just picked up his bowl calmly, "So what?"

"So! So! Whaddya mean so, damn it! I'm a guy! I can't freaking carry… babies!" Ranma shouted, paling at the very mention of the word babies, "Whaddya think I am: a damn baby-making machine?"

Yusuke took a couple of bites of his food, speaking while chewing, "Well… the way I see it…. You're a chick half the time right?"

"Right. Bu-."

"So ya momentarily begin cruising down the road of womanhood. It ain't no big deal. You're still Ranma-chan to me," Yusuke grinned in a mischievous fashion at the girl-turned-boy standing beside him.

Ranma was nearly taken back, 'Huh. It's… uhm… kinda weird to meet a guy who accepts me for being able to turn into a girl.' Ranma had never met anyone his own age who knew about his curse and accepted it without thinking of him as a freak or a pervert. Either that or they were oblivious to rather his male-form or female-form.

"Odd. The way you spoke of Ranma-kun's curse makes me believe you know of the cursed springs in Jusenkyo," Soun said.

"Yeah, I me-."

"Ranma! I've got dinner ready for you!"

Ranma cringed and Yusuke blinked at the sound of Akane's voice. Wait? He had heard that name twice before. Once from Soun and the other time from Ry-.

"Damn it." Yusuke cussed in frustration and made Ranma pause his panicking of trying Akane's cooking to look at him in confusion, "I forgot all 'bout Pig-boy."

"Pig-boy? Wait. You mean Ry-." Before Ranma could say anymore Yusuke disappeared like he wasn't even there.

"Oh! Urameshi-kun's gone." Kasumi gasped and Ranma blinked at the girl.

Genma grinned and snickered, "Hohoho. He's snoozes, he loses. I'll just help myself to his mea-." Genma's joy was killed and burned to ashes once the old man looked at Yusuke's dish and saw nothing but little pieces of leftover rice, "Aw. The boy even eats fast," Genma quickly folded his arms and nodded his head sagely, "The boy has the fire of a true martial artist. You could learn something from him boy," Genma blinked once he never got a resort from his son.

Genma looked to see him sneaking away desperately.

"…Ack. I'd rather sooner eat fried pork _lost _or _blind_ duck then Akane's cooking," Ranma whispered in the hopes Akane wouldn't hear or see him but unfortunately it was not to be.

Ranma froze.

"Ranma! I got your dinner for you!" Akane said sweetly, smiling brightly, and being completely oblivious to the winces of Genma, and Soun.

And Akane's confidence only grew since she was conscious of Kasumi's encouraging smile.

"Hey, where are you going?" Akane inquired upon seeing Ranma sneaking away, curiosity giving away for increasing fury, "Hey! I have you're dinner here for you Ranma-idiot!"

Ranma straightened and crossed his arms, "Geez tomboy. I rather like the idea of not gettin' a free flight ticket straight to the hospital y'know."

Akane stomped her foot in vexation, "I worked hard on this, Ranma-idiot! The least you could do is try it!" Ranma mumbled irritably, while Akane noticed they were down one guest, "Hey, where'd Urameshi-san go?"

Nabiki answered her question in an uninterested way that surprisingly made Akane squeal happily.

"He's gone to get P-chan."

"P-chan!"


	4. The Miscreant Yu-chan!

**Disclaimer: I don't own YuYu Hakusho or Ranma 1/2**

**Yo. The latest chapter of Naruto was friggin beastly as all hell. Madara, Mr Madara. He's badass. Well done to Kishimoto. And after what happened to his father as well. I feel sorry for him and his family, but that's life I'm afraid. People will die as saddening as it is.**

**But Kishimoto did really well with the latest chapter of Naruto. Really well.**

**Buy, buy, Yusuke and Ranma's way of saying bye, bye.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 4<strong>

**The Miscreant Yu-chan!**

"NOW WHERE AM I!?" Ryoga shouted in frustration.

The lost-boy found himself in a room with a double bed, mirror, a wardrobe, and a picture of a good-looking and stunning woman who looked eerily similar to that jerk Saotome's female form, standing next to a handsome man who weirdly looked like Ryoga's new sensei and had his arms wrapped around the girl.

"What is this place? Why can't I get out of here?" Ryoga questioned in slight apprehension.

He couldn't escape this damn maze!

How did Yusuke do it?

The extremely powerful man with an infinite amount of Ki just upped and disappeared like he wasn't even there in the first place.

"Sunny, come give an old lady a foot massage."

Ryoga shivered, "N-No, madam. I'm just trying to find the exit."

Ryoga was starting to get worried now. That old lady was starting to get fresh with him, which was probably due to the fact he had been lost in her house for two hours without even realizing it. Damn it! Why couldn't these places have maps or GPS-systems or something?! Anyone could get lost here. Anyone!

"Well maybe if I go the other wa-."

Ryoga stopped himself there when he felt the hairs on the back of his neck and his clothes rustle slightly from a sudden wind. Then he felt a pull on the scruff of his shirt before feeling his feet leave the ground as if he weighed nothing.

"Damn. What the heck you doin' in the crazy lady's room, Ryo? Couldna resist going to second base eh? You sly dog," Yusuke's voice rang out and Ryoga's eyes widened in relief.

"Y-Yusuke-san, what are you doing here?" Ryoga stammered.

"I could ask you the same question," Yusuke retorted to his would-be student as he surveyed the room and stared dumbfounded at the picture of the woman and man looking suspiciously like him and girl-Ranma, 'Okay. That's just freaky,' That aside: "What happened Ryo, did you take a wrong turn in Albuquerque?"

"It's not like that!" Ryoga was quick to shoot that down as tried to escape Yusuke's hold, but it was all for naught as Yusuke held a fierce grip on his scruff, "Akane-chan's the only girl was me, it's just that-." Ryoga trailed off, feeling a tad embarrassed for having this problem.

"Going on, I'm all ears."

"…I've g-got," Ryoga took a couple of deep calming breaths to chill himself out before adding quietly, "…Directional problems."

"Huh? You can't find your way outta a freaking house?" Yusuke asked.

"Yeah. I don't know the difference from right to left or even straight," Ryoga confessed sadly, and Yusuke could practically feel the shame the lost boy felt for not knowing the directions of left, right, and straight.

"…Damn. I got my hands full modelling you eh Ryo."

Ryoga's eyes grew wide, "You really do that for me?"

"Yep. I already said I would take you under my wing. It is a sensei's job to improve their students, y'know."

Ryoga didn't know what to say. Most of his life people had never bothered to help him improve himself. They would rather sooner laugh at him for getting lost in the public toilets then they were to lend him a helping hand to learn directions and to improve his fighting skills, and overall power-level.

Not to mention Yusuke assured Ryoga he was going to help him get with Akane.

Okay, it was official. Yusuke was the best guy Ryoga had ever met.

"Thanks, Yusuke-sensei." Ryoga said in appreciation.

Yusuke smiled, "No problemo, Ryo," Yusuke said before giving one final tug on Ryoga's scruff as if to adjust him for the short trip they were taking to the Tendo Dojo. Then Yusuke looked at the picture of the couple that looked conspicuously like him and girl-Ranma again, "Aw. Fuck off, fate!"

XxX

(Tendo Dojo)

XxX

A brooding Akane abruptly flinched upon seeing the powerhouse boy materialize into existence as if he had teleportation powers, holding something on his back if the way he was hanging his right arm over his shoulder indicated.

"Okay, I'm back," Yusuke announced as he dropped whatever he was carrying onto the ground.

"Oaf!"

"Ryoga!"

"Akane-chan!" Ryoga squeaked, hastily standing up to his feet so fast his umbrella and backpack slid off of him, "W-What a-are y-you d-doing h-here?" Ryoga asked nervously, subconsciously walking over to the wall and poking a hole in the solid wall with his finger like it was a screwdriver, repeatedly making several more holes in the wall while smiling nervously at Akane.

Akane giggled adorably, "Silly, I live here."

"Huh?" Ryoga wondered in confusion and eyed the dish in Akane's hand before turning to look at his new sensei who had already retaken his place near the dinner table, helping himself to seconds.

"Hey, Pig-boy, did ya get lost in pork-land again?" Ranma inquired in a wryly, taunting fashion.

Ryoga abruptly stopped making holes in the wall and shot his head around to glare at Ranma while Akane did the same thing, "Saotome…" Ryoga gnashed his teeth, "How dare you make a mockery out of me in front of Aka-."

"Shut your trap, park your ass, and eat some grub," Yusuke commanded, not turning to look at his student while Genma and Soun cracked an eye open to watch the interaction between Yusuke and Ryoga.

Ryoga balled his hands into fists and stared fiercely at Ranma's cocky grin.

"If only looks could kill, eh, Pig-boy?" Ranma antagonized Ryoga and earned himself a glare from Akane in return.

Ryoga muttered incoherently, but eventually relented. He released a breath and the anger on his face washed away to be replaced by a look of calm acceptance. From there Ryoga obediently ambled over to Yusuke and sat down next to him.

"Yes, Yusuke-sensei," Ryoga obeyed and earned himself several blinking eyes from Genma, Soun, Ranma, Nabiki, and Akane, the latter's temper giving way for curiosity.

"Sensei?" Ranma was the first to voice everyone's thoughts.

"That's right. I'll be training under Yusuke-sensei from now on," Ryoga elucidated calmly, spinning his head around to give Ranma a look of determination, "To defeat you once and for all Saotome. You'll pay for making my life a living hell!"

"Fat chance Pig-boy," Ranma snorted and crossed his arms behind his head.

"I say, that's not a bad idea. Ryoga-kun's got quite the knack at the martial arts," Soun said, "Wouldn't you agree Saotome?"

"Yes. Give the boy time and he could reach the likes of our levels, Tendo," Genma nodded in agreement.

"I don't care if Urameshi-san is Ryoga-kun's sensei he shouldn't be ordering him around like a pet!" Akane screeched irritably, making Ryoga blush being defended by his crush.

To Akane's growing anger, Yusuke just lazily cleaned out his ear, "Gotta listen to the master if he ever hopes to spread his wings, and fly away."

"Yes. I agree," Genma nodded wholeheartedly, "If my boy had chickened out on any of the vigorous training sessions he wouldn't have become the man he is today!"

"Yeah Pops. Way to go. You're definitely a nominee for father of the year award," Ranma quipped dryly, sarcasm evident in his voice and Genma glared at his son.

"Well that still doesn't give you the right to treat Ryoga-kun like a doormat!" Akane screeched and Ryoga was becoming increasingly nervous now, as he looked down and pushed his index fingers together.

Akane fumed and groaned furiously when Yusuke waved her off like she didn't matter, but instead of rage-shouting at the rude-boy, the temperamental-girl turned her heated glare onto her disinterested money-making sister.

"And I thought you said Urameshi-san was bringing P-chan over!" Akane whined and Ryoga flinched.

"P-chan?" Yusuke mused with a puzzled look on his face and Akane looked at him with a scowl on her face.

"Yes, P-chan, my cute baby piglet!" Akane thundered, then got all teary eyed in her typical melodramatic-fashion, "My poor baby. He must be so scared and hungry too, without momma's cooking to fill his little tummy," Ryoga blanched and Yusuke was starting to put the pieces together.

Akane looked at Ranma, sadness taking a backseat to righteous fury, "Ranma you jerk! Stop picking on P-chan!"

"I ain't touched your damn pet Akane!" Ranma stated in irritation and crossed his arms over his chest, looking away from Akane, "Geez. You think I wanna go near a pig without turning it into roast pork. Heh. It'd be tastier than eatin' cookin made by an uncute tomboy, like you," Akane and Ryoga both growled at the rude-boy, the Saotome one, not the Urameshi-one.

"Hey. Isn't Porky just Ry-." Yusuke found himself silenced by the hands of Ryoga and Ranma, a ghostly afterimage of Ranma slowly disappearing from existence as he dashed over to put his hand on Yusuke's mouth the moment Ryoga put his on it too.

"Huh?" Akane blinked her eyes, "What's going on?"

"That's what I'd like to know," Yusuke muttered in annoyance, but it was barely heard with Ryoga's and Ranma's hands over his mouth.

Ryoga laughed bashfully, meekly moving his head to his sensei's ear, "…A-Akane-chan doesn't know about my curse form," The look of shame on Ryoga's face was missed by the ignorant youngest Tendo, "I've been her pet 'P-chan' and haven't got around to telling her I'm P-chan yet."

"Yeah. Tomboy over there is a dumb as a brick-wall when it comes to 'P-chan'." Ranma murmured and earned himself a glare from Ryoga for insulting Akane.

"How dumb are we talkin' 'bout here?" Yusuke asked and Ranma opened his mouth to reply, but quickly shut it when he figured actions were louder than words.

Ranma dashed off to the kitchen.

"Where are you going Ranma-idiot? I've got your dinner here!" Akane bellowed.

"Looks like Saotome's going to get P-chan." Nabiki said with a bored look on her face and Akane blinked at her sister before Ranma came back into the kitchen with an easy-going smile on his face and a cup of water in his hand.

"Ah. Nice weather we're 'havin," Ranma stated casually, looking out at the open world and seeing that the sky had turned orange due to the fact the sun was starting to set.

"Hey, what's that?" This question left several confused expressions on the faces of Akane, Yusuke, Ryoga, Soun, and Genma.

"I think I know where this is going but I play along anyway," Nabiki said with a coy smile on her features, "Is it a plane?"

Ranma smirked when he saw Akane peering intently at the sky.

"Nope. It's,-" Ranma chucked the glass of cold water over Yusuke's head and onto Ryoga, causing the lost-boy to melt away, and leave a small, cute, black and annoyed piglet in his place.

"Ranma-idiot, there's nothing ther-." Akane's temper instantly faded away when she turned around and saw her favourite pet drying itself off, "P-chan!" Yusuke cringed while Akane walked over to P-chan and lifted him up with one hand, cooing at him lovingly, "Where'd you come from?" She glared at Yusuke, "Was Urameshi hiding you in his pocket?"

"Haha," Yusuke laughed nervously. He couldn't believe the girl's ignorance.

"Bwee." P-chan squealed.

"You must be hungry. Here let momma feed you since a certain someone is too much of a jerk to appreciate good food!" Akane shot Ranma a momentarily angry look before turning her head away from him disdainfully, making Ranma roll his eyes, while P-chan sweated nervously.

Akane then blissfully skipped off to her room with her homemade cooking and baby piglet in her arms, leaving Yusuke picking up his dropped jaw.

"What? In? The? Fuck? Just? Happened?" Yusuke asked, voicing every word after a small pause as if to add a dramatic effect to his stunned expression.

"A tomboy drugged up on stupidity happened," Ranma deadpanned.

"Yeah. She's a retard."

"Ranma-kun, be nice. She is your fiancé," Kasumi recommended.

Ranma rolled his eyes, "That was Pops' and Mr Tendo's idea. I ain't in no hurry to tie the knot with an uncute tomboy."

Genma leaped to his feet and drove his fist directly into his son's face, knocking him to the wall and watching seriously, as part of the wall chipped off, "Hey, whatcha do that for?" Ranma asked grumpily, shooting up to his feet and glaring at his old man, but his father wouldn't stand to have an disobedient son so he punched him again, knocking him to the ground and cracking it with the amount of power he packed into his punch.

"Grr. You can't be so choosy about women boy," Genma advised chidingly.

Soun nodded happily, "I agree with Saotome. You can't always have what you want lad."

"Don't I get a say in this?" Ranma grumped.

"No," Genma said sternly, grabbing his son by the neck and backhanding him across the face, forcing blood and saliva out of Ranma's mouth. He would beat his son into submission and obedience. He'd spent twelve long years moulding his son for the day he would carry on his and Soun's schools. Genma Saotome didn't give a rat's rear-end what his son wanted or rather he'd be happy or not, so long as his legacy continued.

That was all that mattered.

"Boy, I put forth a lot of time and effort in you so you could achieve my and Soun's dream of uniting our schools. I forbid you from backing out of this now, boy!" Genma was laying out the rules like a strict sheriff, as he raised his fist to strike his son again, but only to gasp upon finding his wrist caught in a steel-like grip.

"What was that 'bout making your son marry a retard, old man?" Yusuke asked in a dangerously calm tone of voice, striking fear in Genma's heart as he slowly turned his head over his shoulder to look at Yusuke. Genma had to remind himself this was the boy who had effortlessly outclassed Happosai. Yusuke wasn't normal and his motives were very much unclear.

"N-Now, U-Urameshi-k-kun, l-let's n-not be rash," Soun recommended in a nervous manner, moving his hands up and down in a placating manner. He gulped from the deadpanned look he got from Yusuke, "R-Ranma-k-kun i-is q-quite s-satisfied with marrying my Akane."

Yusuke scoffed, "You must take me for a first class sucker. Any fool with half a brain could tell Ranma and Akane ain't ready to tie the knot. Hell I bet my yard the two haven't even gotten outta first base."

"F-First b-base with A-Akane! I-I-I Th-. I d-dunno," Ranma stuttered.

Yusuke rolled his eyes, "Case closed." Genma winced and fell to his knees, as the pressure on his wrist increased slightly, making worry appear in Ranma's, Soun's, and Kasumi's eyes.

"Saotome!"

"How many grades were you two held back in school?" Yusuke asked.

"Urameshi-kun…" Soun stammered in desperation, "Y-You h-have t-to u-understand. Saotome and I have long since had a dream to unite our schools! We have to achieve our dream!" Tears ran down Soun's eyes.

"That so?" Yusuke asked and Soun sniffed, but nodded his head nonetheless, "And this 'blossoming fantasy' shared between a couple of ol' scary cats is enough of a reason to pawn off one of your daughters, eh?" Soun nodded his head, but winced at being called out for his cowardice.

Genma began to cry out in pain as Yusuke twisted his wrist. Thoughts of Yusuke's own father came rushing up to the surface. Memories he had longed thought had been buried since he had met Raizen, the only true father he'd known, were all revived just interacting with Genma and Soun.

They reminded Yusuke too much of his own father; Spineless, selfish, and a deadbeat. Oh. How Yusuke would love to find that S.O.B and beat the crap outta him for leaving him and his mother to fend for themselves.

"Oh my, Yusuke-kun, you're hurting Uncle Saotome," Kasumi said with a touch of fear in her voice and Yusuke had to remind himself of her innocence.

With that on his mind, the rude-boy merely released his grip on Genma's wrist and allowed the man to clutch pitifully at his bruised wrist.

"Ranma boy," Genma said huskily, almost in desperation to get his son to say he was fine with marrying Akane.

"Pops?" Ranma murmured. His expression was blank while he watched Yusuke berate his old man and Mr Tendo, 'Maybe I should get Yu-chan off of Pops' back. After all Pops has done nuthin' to deserve s-.' Ranma mused, but a rush of tortuous memories forced his contemplation of whether or not his pops deserved to be punish to such an extent to end.

The one of where Genma rolled him in tuna-and-bread, doused him in sardine-juice and hung him to a tree branch for hungry cats to aggressively attack him struck out like a thorn in his mind the most. But the memories of Genma promising him to every guy's daughter he met just to get a free meal also poked at Ranma.

"Say something boy," Genma demanded.

"Like what old man?" Ranma asked.

Genma lifted up his head to look at Ranma in the eyes, "Tell the boy you don't mind marrying Akane. Tell him it's for the good of the school."

"I thought ya said girls are stupid, weak, and distraction from the art," Ranma quoted and Kasumi shook her head at Genma.

Genma growled, "This is different! You're honour bound to carry on the legacy of the Saotome School of Anything Goes and unite it with the Tendo one! Take responsibility, and marry Akane! Love doesn't matter in martial arts! As martial artists, we're sworn to keep our style alive no matter what!"

"Well-spoken Saotome old friend," Soun said with a happy nod of his head.

"Sheesh. It's getting stinky in here with the amount of contradictory crap coming outta your ass, old man," Yusuke looked unimpressed at Genma, "First ya say Ranma shouldn't be fussy with a chick… hmm, I dunno, he'll be glued to until the day he dies. And now ya say love doesn't matter in marriage?" Yusuke shook his head, "What kinda backwards ass world did ya fall out of, and land on your head?"

Genma scowled, "You don't understand the way of our life."

"It ain't exactly rocket science to see two pieces of a puzzle won't fit old man," Yusuke quipped dryly.

"'Sides, I wanna get stronger. I ain't got no plans to settle down with any girl, especially one as uncute and tomboyish as Akane," Ranma added.

Soun wailed with his arm covering his eyes.

"You take that back boy!" Genma demanded and Ranma stuck his tongue out at him.

Yusuke shoved his hands into his pockets, "I'm outta here," Yusuke began walking over to the porch but stopped to look over his shoulder at Ranma, "You up for a walk down thoughtful lane or what?"

Ranma took a look around and observed the expressions on Kasumi's, Genma's, Soun's, and Nabiki's faces.

Kasumi had a blank expression on her face, Genma had a warning look on his, Soun had a pleading one on his, and Nabiki on an earnest curious one on hers.

"Sure. Beats gettin' an ass whoopin' into submission," Ranma said.

Yusuke hummed calmly, "Yeah. I can pick up Ryo later. Let him spend some time with crazy-girl for now," Yusuke's expression turned dark as a smile came to his face and he turned around to look at Nabiki, "You're still on my to-do list Nabs. We'll deal with our meeting later."

'Damn. I was hoping he'd forget about me.' Nabiki mused while Ranma looked at the two in confusion.

"Legs go," Yusuke said and Ranma nodded.

"Smell ya later, Pops."

"Boy..."

XxX

(Elsewhere - With Yusuke and Ranma)

XxX

The sun had finally completed its job for the day, and as such had left the world. In its place taking the night-shift was the silvery moon, attempting to offer some semblance of light with a dimmed silver one. But of course it wasn't enough, not that it mattered since the street-lights also offered an outlet for people wandering the streets of Nerima.

Ranma and Yusuke were walking at a reserved pace in the shopping district of Nerima, the former was a little tense but the latter was nonchalant though.

Ranma was just wondering what he'd do from here. He obviously couldn't go back to the Tendo Dojo, unless he wanted a beating from his old man. He didn't want to marry Akane.

He didn't remind the idea of relationships, but he was honestly starting to get sick and tired of arguing with Akane, going back and forth in their futile progress to come to terms with the idea of marrying one another to satisfy their fathers.

Never mind the fact Akane seemingly preferred Ryoga to Ranma anyway. Was it natural for a wife to take her husband's rival side over the man she'd married?

Ranma honestly didn't know the answer to this question, but he could at least say he didn't like the idea of Akane always taking Ryoga's side if they were to tie the knot.

"Has your old man always been like that?" Yusuke eventually broke the silence between him and Ranma.

"Whaddya mean Yu-chan?" Ranma asked while folding his arms behind his head.

"Y'know. The whole pawning ya off on some crazy gal for his own needs thing?" Yusuke inquired.

Ranma shrugged, "It ain't the first time."

Yusuke gave him an incredulous look, "The hell?"

"Yep. Before I even knew what an engagement was he promised me to a good friend of mine named Ucchan in exchanged for her pop's okonomiyaki cart. In the end Pops just bailed with me and the cart and left Ucchan behind. I only found out a few months ago when Ucchan managed to track me down. That was a pleasant reunion," Ranma snorted sarcastically.

"Damn."

"Yeah."

"I'm half surprised ya don't just go on the run or something," Yusuke said.

Ranma shook his head, "Easier said then done, don't ya think?"

"Naw," Yusuke smiled in an easy-going manner and waved his hand, "With your other side-," Yusuke elbowed Ranma with a cheeky grin on his face, "I bet my bottom dollar you'd be rollin' around in nuff money to live nine lives." As if some deity from above wanted to prove Yusuke's point thunder clouds were heard before tiny drips of water started to fall lifelessly to the ground.

"Aw, great. Fate's being a real jackass today," Ranma said in annoyance while the rain doused his form. The guy in front of Yusuke melted away and left the beautiful redhead girl Yusuke had first met earlier.

"I dunno, I think lady luck likes singing my tune," Yusuke leered teasingly at Ranma.

Ranma rolled her eyes, "Can it bub!"

"Pigtailed girl!"

"I'm sensing another crackpot's coming outta the woodwork right?" Yusuke asked a smirking Ranma.

A tall handsome boy with wavy brown hair came surging up to Ranma and Yusuke. He had light skin and dark eyes. He wore a blue kimono-top, black hakama, and sandals. In his hand was his weapon of choice. He wielded a plain wooden sword.

"How I have longed to see thee my fiery goddess!" The mad-boy leapt at Ranma and ate a foot to his face courtesy of the redhead.

"Well he went down like a sack of potatoes," Yusuke muttered before finding Ranma's arms wrapped around his neck.

"You dunno how long I've been itching to do that to that perv since the old letch took my strength away, Yu-chan!" Ranma said brightly, hugging Yusuke, "I've got to hand it to ya, man, you do have your uses. Now I can go back to stomping a mud hole in this dumbass!"

"Well, shucks, I try," Yusuke said dumbly, and Ranma nodded her head happily, never noticing the lunatic-boy raise to his feet only to see her with her arms around Yusuke's neck.

"Pigtailed goddess!" He gasped, "Foul knave. What are thee doing to thou Pigtailed goddess? Unhand her immediately, or I shall smite thee where thee stand!"

Ranma and Yusuke blinked a couple of times at the lunatic-boy before their small attention-spans caught the gist of what he was implying.

A devious smirk appeared on Yusuke's face.

Ranma gaped, "Oh hell! You actually think we're an ite-."

"Yep. She's my bird. What of it?" Yusuke lied casually, ensnaring Ranma's waist with a trolling grin on his face while Ranma gawked at him, "Pretty lil thing, aren't she?"

The crazy-boy was furious, "Nay! Nay, nay I say! Thy very idea of thee becoming one with the celestial goddess is preposterous! Thee must have bewitched her! I will not stand for this foul knave! I shall smite thee and rescue the pigtailed goddess!" The lunatic-wannabe samurai boy rationalized.

"Believe it or not Wacko, this fine piece of ass is all mine," Yusuke joked and the wannabe samurai raged.

"…What the hell are you doing?" Ranma murmured harshly, feeling a little uncomfortable with Yusuke rubbing up her thighs and stomach.

"You want this nutter to leave ya alone right?"

"Yeah, but-."

"Then role-play with me gal. I know what I'm doing."

Ranma just deadpanned a look at Yusuke, "I hope you realize Mr samurai-boy over there is as thick-headed as tomboy."

"Damn. That bad eh?"

"You dunno the half of it loverboy."

"So I don't. You'll have to show me sometime, doll."

Ranma rolled her eyes, and looked at the mentally unstable boy wielding a wooden sword and holding his stance with a look of patience on his face.

"Pigtailed goddess, is what this barbaric knave speaks of is true, that thy beauteous self would succumb to his treacherous ways?" The aspiring samurai questioned.

Ranma wanted to face-palm herself at the desperation she seen in the boy's eyes. He was really hoping she would confirm she had been tricked into 'hooking up' with Yusuke so he could rescue her, and live happily ever after with his 'pigtailed goddess' and the beauteous Akane Tendo.

'Well, if nuthin else, maybe this numbskull will forget 'bout his mission to waste 'the foul sorcerer Saotome' if I play along with Yu-chan's sham,' Ranma rationalized, a cheeky smirk crossing her features, 'Yeah. Why not? Could be fun. Alright Yu-chan, if ya want a pseudo-girlfriend then ya can deal with this loony, not me!'

Those were the consequences of pretending to be Ranma Saotome's partner, fake or not; the culprit will have to deal with a tenacious, mocked-samurai and his fantasy of slaying the wicked one who had bewitched his fair maiden and rescue said girl.

"Pigtailed goddess?" The boy tried again with something akin to concern in his eyes.

Ranma's eyes sparkled and blinked beautifully, her cute girl act now in play, as she tightened her grip around Yusuke's neck and rubbed her cheek against his, "Oh, Kuno! You have it all wrong! I am in fact very happy with Yu-chan! He's the bested guy a gal could have!' Kuno gasped, while Yusuke's trolling smile turned goofy.

'Hook, line, sinker; what a first class sucker,' Ranma smirked inwardly.

"Nay!" Kuno denied, "How dare thee! Thee have corrupted the pigtailed goddess and used some sort of foul trickery to make her succumb to thy sick desires! Thee are truly more villainous than that of the foul sorcerer Saotome! Thee shall face judgement at the hands of the blue thunder of Furinkan High school, Tatewaki Kuno!"

Yusuke tilted his head to the side in confusion while Ranma was doing a victory dance in her head, 'Bingo. The sap fell for this lil ploy like the dummy he is. Heh. Like taking candy from a baby, now it's time to go for the kill,' Ranma mused, "Oh no, Kuno, you have it all wrong. Yu-chan didn't trick me. He rightfully won me from the foul sorcerer Saotome. He treats me so well. He even promised to buy me all the ice cream I could ask for."

Kuno looked like he wanted to have a heart attack, "It's worse than I thought. The treacherous Yu-chan shall be slayed by the great and honourable Kuno-sama! Ranma is that of a saint in comparison to the wicked Yu-chan! And I shall see to it personally thee is expunged from this world and free thou Pigtailed maiden!"

"Does this guy eat crack for every meal?" Yusuke mumbled with a bead of sweat rolling off of his cheek, looking at a snickering Ranma, "Why didn't ya tell me stick-up his ass was that much of a wacko?"

"Hey, you wanted a pseudo-relationship, not me hubby. So now ya gotta deal with him," Yusuke was close to gawking at the devious redhead's way of shoving her problem onto him, "Tables have turned eh Yu-chan?"

"I hate you."

"I love ya, too!"

Yusuke shook his head in amusement before fixing his eyes on Kuno, "Okay, partner. Legs dance." Yusuke extended his right arm forward and closed his hand into a fist, poking out only his pinkie finger, "Legs see how ya handle the appetizer," A bright orb of blue spirit energy formed on Yusuke's finger, much to Kuno's annoyance who kept himself held in a simple sword-stance.

"**Reigan (Spirit Gun)**!"

Kuno scoffed at the boulder-sized energy blast coming from Yusuke's finger and heading straight for him.

Kuno merely drove his wooden sword through Yusuke's spirit gun and cancelled it out effortlessly, much to Ranma's shock.

"Did… ya just burst Yu-chan's reigan like a bubble?" Ranma asked.

"Of course. For I would've to be no more but a mere amateur to fall for such trickery," Kuno insisted in an arrogant tone of voice.

As if to demonstrate to his own destructive power, Kuno lazily flicked his sword to the side. A wind crescent-shaped air pressure flew from Kuno's sword, Ranma's eyes tracking it all the way to a skyscraper where it drove into it.

A line appeared in the skyscraper before the top half of it exploded upwards and evaporated into tiny pieces of pebbles.

Ranma's mouth was hanging open, "Oh snap, ya just cut a building in half like it ain't nuthin!"

"But of course. For I have been training to rescue thee from the evil clutches of the foul sorcerer Saotome and banish him to the abyss of hell where he'd face his penance for his sins against thy beauteous-self, Pigtailed maiden! However, it now seems the circumstances have changed. The wicked Yu-chan has tainted thee and is far more villainous than Saotome. I shall smite the miscreant Yu-chan where he stands. Wait for thou pigtailed goddess! I, Tatewaki Kuno, shall rescue thee!"

"Oh this ought to be fun," Yusuke said with his nonchalant eyes observing the work of Kuno's casual slice, "Heh. You ain't pulling no punches, enit wacko?" Yusuke taunted, removing himself from Ranma and walking a few inches forward with his hands in his pockets.

Kuno blurred forward in an Akuma-esque movement and whammed the frontal-part of his blade towards Yusuke who countered by throwing a right roundhouse-punch at the incoming weapon.

When fist met sword a tremor was created, one powerful enough to rupture the ground and knock girl-Ranma on her butt.

"Wah!" Ranma sputtered out and rubbed her rear-end irritably, adjusting herself on her knees to watch the two fighters go at it, consequences be damned.

"Foul knave. The pigtailed goddess is in need of a saviour. I will not stoop as low as to give nothing less, but all of thou thunderous power to free her godly beauty," Kuno said, pushing against Yusuke's fist.

Kuno retracted his sword to hold it to the side and unleash a fierce spinning sideways slash at Yusuke, but the speedy demon flipped up, and over the sword and the shockwave which followed after it; another building was abruptly made into two.

"Well ya got one thing right. Ranma-chan is a looker, but she ain't on the menu," Yusuke said.

Ranma blushed, 'Okay, bub, you're gettin' a lil too comfy with this.'

"Your bewitched ways will not fool me, the blue thunder of Furinkan High school, Tatewaki Kuno! You shall face thy penance for thy crimes against the pigtailed maiden!" Kuno yelled, raising his wooden sword above his head and bringing it tumbling downward to Yusuke.

Yusuke danced to the side, expertly keeping his balance from the massive crater Kuno made with his wooden sword!

"Begone I say!" Kuno commanded.

Kuno shoved his elbow to the side in the hopes of nailing Yusuke.

Yusuke was able to flip up and land skilfully on Kuno's elbow, "Ah. Sup, doc?" Yusuke quipped mockingly, leaving Kuno unamused as he expertly rolled his arm outward and sent another huge shockwave which sliced a bank building in two, "Plannin' on dipping your hand in the cookie jar, are we?"

Kuno scowled and attempted to shake Yusuke off of him by doing a 360 spin, but the speedy demon leaped off of him and held himself in the air by unleashing his blue aura, sticking his leg out and knocking the spinning-top of Kuno away, Kuno rapidly twisting out of control and driving over to two buildings.

The buildings collapsed the instant Kuno connected with them and a small tremor was felt by Ranma and the glowing Yusuke.

"Just what kinda emotion is Yu-chan using to bring his battle aura out like that?" Ranma wondered to herself.

She'd only ever be aware of a martial artist tapping into one's emotion to release one's battle aura, like how the old letch's used his boiling hot lust to power up, Pop's was glutton, and Mr Tendo's was sloth. Everyone who had knowledge of Ki around Nerima tapped into some kind of emotion to bring out their auras.

Even Akane, as weak as she was, used righteous fury to bring out her aura while Ryoga manipulated his depression and Ranma just used straight-up confidence like a fierce tiger!

But Yusuke was different. His aura didn't feel like any of theirs. It almost had a plain, stoic feel to it; almost like Yusuke brought it out naturally without concentrating so terribly, and exaggeratingly on a single emotion. And for that it was making Yusuke far more powerful than anyone Ranma had ever saw. Period.

"Just… how did Yu-chan gather such power in the tank?" Ranma asked herself. Now she was almost glad she had accepted Yusuke's invite to walk the streets, and collect her thoughts on the whole arranged marriage between her and Akane.

Ranma could reach a whole new level of power if she played her cards right.

"I have to get Yu-chan to show me how to fight like he does," Ranma mused resolutely, while a hurricane was released where Kuno lay in the fallen pebbles of the former buildings of a charity shop, and a coffee shop.

"FOUL KNAVE!" Kuno shouted in outrage. The pebbles were all blown away to the highest parts of the clouds, and left Kuno standing in a fairly huge crater, "I will not stand for thy vile magic! Thy penance awaits thee barbaric swine!"

Ranma rolled her eyes, looking on dryly, "Always lookin' to make excuses for his shortcomings. Boy, I sure wish someone could knock the air outta him and dislodge the stick up his ass…"

Yusuke ushered Kuno to come at him by extending his arm outwards, rolling his arm around so he could see the flat side of his palm, and flipping his fingers towards himself in a fanning motion, "Just bring it."

Ranma grinned, "Gotta love wrestling."

"Do not try my patience miscreant!" Kuno demanded, dashing over to Yusuke who made no attempts to dodge, but instead just raise his left arm up the moment Kuno got within reach of him and swung his sword at him.

Sparks were seen flying between Kuno's wooden sword and Yusuke's aura-shrouded arm as if steel had met metal rather than wood meeting flesh. Cars, lampposts, and a building got annihilated from the shockwave of Kuno's sword clashing with Yusuke's arm.

Kuno scowled, hardening his eyes staring at the steely gaze of Yusuke, "Not too shabby, for a chump," Yusuke said, sticking his foot into Kuno's stomach and shoving the boy away from him, watching him bounce off of the damage ground like a soccer ball, "But you're gonna need more juice than that to ruffle my feathers."

Kuno scowled up at Yusuke from where he laid on his stomach. He stabbed his sword into the ground and dragged himself up to his feet. His angry look now turned into a look of disgust.

"Aw, don't be a spoil sport. Tell ya what, 'cause ya seem like a swell enough guy," Yusuke began, 'retarded more like,' Yusuke mused, "-I'm gonna give ya a free pass to come and release a fountain of blood from my neck," Kuno looked suspiciously at Yusuke while Ranma's mouth fell open.

Yusuke just leaned his head to the side and tapped his neck, "Pin your tooth pick here. I dare ya."

"What in the hell is he thinking?" Ranma wondered to herself.

"I will not succumb to thy mind games, vile creature!" Kuno yelled.

The samurai charged Yusuke down like a raging bull, "I shall smite thee for thy insolence! The pigtailed goddess shall be freed from thy wicked clutches!"

Yusuke smirked, "That's right. Come pin the tail on the donkey," Kuno reached Yusuke and slashed at the spot he was leaving wide open, in this case the open spot being his neck. The force caused another huge skyscraper to vaporize into nothingness.

Kuno smirked, believing he had slayed the evil one until…

*snap*

His very sword snapped in two, the top half flying away from the rest of it.

"Looks like you wasn't up for the challenge," Yusuke said coolly, not even a scratch on his neck despite the fact it had taken a blow from a sword capable of cutting through city blocks like toilet paper.

Kuno was stunned.

"…Preposterous," Kuno mumbled, slowly backing away from Yusuke, "Thee are far more skilled than Saotome," Kuno turned around and began walking off, "I fear the miscreant Yu-chan shall take far more preparation to slay."

"You shooting off already?" Kuno stopped at the sound of Yusuke's voice, "Didn't think the party had ended already. I'm still game if you are."

Kuno turned his head to give Yusuke a look of resolution, "Fear not swine. I, Tatewaki Kuno, am merely calling for a brief stop to our battle. When I return it shall be thee who shall be lying face first on the ground. I shall smite thee. This I swear," Kuno looked at Ranma, "Wait for me pigtailed goddess, the blue thunder of Furinkan High School won't rest until thee is freed from the clutches of the miscreant Yu-chan."

"Okay, Kuno! See ya next day of destruction! Buy, buy!" Ranma gushed in her cute girl voice before mumbling underneath her breath, "…Yeah. I'll wait for ya, when hell freezes over, nut-job!"

Yusuke walked over to Ranma, "Does that nutter even know you're both the 'pigtailed goddess' and the 'foul sorcerer Saotome' or what? 'Cause it seems like in his messed up lil world your curse form and birth form ain't two sides of the same coin!"

"Nope!" Ranma chirped brightly, "And ya gotta deal with him now, Yu-chan! After tonight I won't have to bother with that loser ever again!" Ranma threw her arms up, and leaped to her feet, "He'll think you nabbed my curse form off of my real form so he'll stop harassing me and start bugging you!"

Yusuke just rubbed the side of his neck and let out a sigh of annoyance, "What kinda hot water mixed with crazy herbs have I landed myself in?" Ranma just giggled at Yusuke before he turned his miffed stare onto her, "You let me go along with this lil ploy knowing that would happen."

Ranma was just looking too innocent now.

"…Next time I suggest we play house you have my permission to take a gun and pop a cap in my ass."

"Can do, Yu-chan!"

"I tell ya it ain't fun to have an institution escapee coming after your head thinking he's Dog the bounty hunter," Yusuke groused, marching forward with Ranma right by his side.

"Tell me 'bout it. I've had loony-boy either tryin' to cop a feel when I'm in girl-form or pop my head off of my shoulders when I'm in guy-form," Ranma added and Yusuke sighed at Kuno's madness, "Say, where are we headin' too anyway, Yu-chan?"

"Well ain't that the million dollar question."

Ranma almost face palmed herself, "You dummy!"

"Easy, don't get your panties in a twist," Ranma glared at Yusuke for that commit, "I know where we're heading." Yusuke took a moment to contemplate with Ranma patiently crossing her arms over her chest, "Got it. You wanna get stronger, right?"

Ranma blinked, "Well, yeah. Sure beats marrying an uncute tomboy like Akane. In fact I was just thinkin' what emotion is your Ki based off, Yu-chan?"

"Hm. My spirit I guess," Yusuke guessed.

"Huh? But wouldn't that mean you're using your chi?" Ranma asked and Yusuke shrugged.

"Yeah legs go with that." Yusuke said and Ranma pouted at him.

"Okay, how did ya tap into that?" Ranma asked eagerly.

"I died," Yusuke answered dryly.

Ranma just gave Yusuke a straightforward look, "C'mom man, be serious."

"Thought I was."

Ranma shook her head at Yusuke, but gained a curious look on her face when she seen he wasn't grinning or laughing in the slightest, "Oh snap. You're serious, you really did die."

"Now you're getting it. Saved a kid's life by shoving the little runt outta the way of a speeding car," Yusuke explained and then sighed, "The squirt woulda rolled through apparently even if I hadn't tagged him out for myself," Yusuke sulked.

Ranma was trying to wrap her head around the fact the boy beside her had died, but yet was still walking beside her, "So if you died, how haven't ya booked a room up in the luxury hotel up in the big blue sky."

Yusuke looked at Ranma and hardened his eyes, "Legs just say god loves me."

"Must do," Ranma replied dryly, "So if you had to kick the bucket to tap into your chi and master the reigan, how can I do it?"

"You ain't gonna quit until you have it down are you?"

"Of course I'm not gonna throw in the towel! Ranma Saotome doesn't lose!"

"Cept to me," Yusuke smirked and received a wallop to his arm from Ranma.

"Shove it!" Ranma said.

"Well if you really dig the reigan I suppose I could introduce you to granny," Yusuke contemplated.

Ranma had a confused look on her features, "Granny?"

"Yeah. The old hag worked her magic on me, I'm sure she could do the same to you," Yusuke suggested, "Besides, your old man's messed up. I may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but it doesn't take a genius to realize leaving you there ain't the brightest idea."

"Oh. The old panda ain't so bad Yu-chan." Ranma said, since Genma was still her father. She at least had some affection for the old man who wouldn't think twice to sell her off for a free meal.

Yusuke deadpanned a look at Ranma, "As bad as a couch potato can be."

"Okay, so he's not perfect."

"Not perfect is the understatement of the semester."

"But he's still Pops, to an extent."

Yusuke shook his head, "Whatever floats your boat."

"Uhm, Yu-chan," Yusuke looked at girl-Ranma with an raised eyebrow, noticing her pushing her index fingers together shyly, "I really appreciate what you did for me back at the Tendos. Standin' up against Pops like that. You're one stand up guy."

Yusuke offered the girl a shrug of his shoulders, "Don't mention it. It just bugs me to see someone getting forced to marry anyone y'know. Plus I kinda already made a vow to Ryo that I would help him score Akane."

"Yeah I kinda figured that." Ranma deadpanned and Yusuke gave her a grin of bashfulness, "So shall we go to granny's then?"

"Yep. I got my GPS system set on a one-way course to Granny's!"

That'll be it for this chapter. Ranma'll be training with Genkai and Ryoga with Yusuke along with some other characters like Akane since Yusuke eyeing a future for her with Ryoga.

* * *

><p><strong>Kuno. Some of you may be wondering why did you, Thugs Bunny 009, make him so strong? Well I'll answer that because it's fucking funny, seeing a mad-boy taking out buildings like they're nothing. Not to mention guys like Chu in YuYu Hakusho are country level by this stage. Ranma 12 characters have to show some potential if they wanna catch up to the powerhouses of YuYu Hakusho.**


	5. Love is a Natural Thing

**Disclaimer: I don't own YuYu Hakusho or Ranma. If I did I would probably model Ranma after Kazuma from Kaze no Stigma. That dude's a badass, for only a badass can do something perverted and still be a badass by just dodging his tsundere's attempts to dish a 'righteous punishment' and mock her while doing so.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 5 <strong>

**Love is a Natural Thing**

"So, this is where granny lives, huh?" Ranma asked after she and Yusuke had ascended a set of stone steps, coming to a stop outside of a temple and a blue phoenix-like creature lying next to the temple, 'Huh? Now there's sumthin you don't see every day. What in the blazin' hell is that?'

"Yep. Legs see if the old hag's up to taking on one more student." Yusuke said while Ranma looked curiously at the phoenix-creature. She kept looking at it even as Yusuke knocked on the door a couple of times.

The phoenix-esque creature just opened its eyes and stared at Ranma.

And it didn't stop.

It kept on staring at Ranma-chan.

"…"

"…"

'Uhm. Okay, not quite sure what to think here,' Ranma mused, fidgeting nervously under the pheonix's piercing gaze.

Yusuke noticed the phoenix looking at Ranma, "Pu! Stop checking out Ranma!" Yusuke commanded with a half-hearted glare at Pu, and Pu just squeaked.

Yusuke rubbed his temples and thought about his childhood sweetheart, Keiko, doing things with her like shopping, or going to see a movie with her, and even doing inappropriate activities with her. Those thoughts of Keiko were enough to get Pu's eyes off of Ranma as he rested his head down on the ground and closed his eyes.

"W-What! You mean birdie here has a name?" Ranma sputtered out and then blushed, "And it was checking me out like a piece of meat?"

"Yeah," Yusuke said in annoyance, scratching the side of his head, "What I am on in the inside Pu is on the outside. You get my drift?"

"Snap," Ranma blinked and started to put the pieces together, "So if you're sayin' Pu is just a representation of yourself, then wouldn't that mean you dig my gir-?"

The door opened up and ended Ranma's question.

A demure green haired girl poked her head out of the door, "Oh. It's you Urameshi-san. Kazuma's not back from University if you're wondering." Her long green was a mess and fell to her back and she had a tired look on her face that indicated she had just woken up. Her complexion was light and she wore a light pink dress with a brown cardigan sweater.

"Thanks for the heads-up, Yukina, but I'm actually here to request a favour from the old hag," Yusuke said coolly, making the girl now known as Yukina blink in confusion as she caught sight of the redheaded girl next to Yusuke.

"What's all the ruckus? Don't you realize people are trying to sleep," An old feminine, grumpy voice rang out through the air, causing Ranma to raise an eyebrow, while a grin spread across Yusuke's face.

Yukina retracted her head and a head of dark pink hair took its place, "So the Dimwit's come back huh?" The diminutive lady said and looked at Ranma, "And it looks like he brought a friend with him this time."

"Hey, granny!" Yusuke greeted cheerfully, rudely pushing the door open and making Genkai jump back to avoid being knocked over, "What's shaking?" Yusuke embraced the sighing old woman in a hug. Ranma could see the reluctant acceptance on the tiny old lady's face.

Although Genkai was tiny, she wasn't as short as Happosai or Cologne, but at the same time she wasn't nearly as powerful as them either. Genkai wore clothes representing her status of a martial artist.

Genkai wanted to beat up Yusuke, but she knew she couldn't. Yusuke was already far surpassed her, to the point where he could just fart and accidentally murder her.

"Dimwit! If you didn't have the power to possibly destroy the world I'd smack you upside your head and make you run laps around town for barging in here like that," Genkai griped and Ranma blinked.

Yu-chan was packing that kind of _immense _power. No wonder she couldn't lay a finger on him.

"Aw, I already survived your hellish training once before granny, I ain't doin' it again," Yusuke said, letting go of Genkai.

"Good point. Then what are you doing here?" Genkai asked, looking at Ranma, "And what's she doing here?"

Ranma flinched, "He."

Genkai raised an eyebrow.

Yusuke jerked a thumb at Ranma, "That's Ranma Saotome, alias Red." Yusuke introduced Ranma and earned himself a pout from the redhead for the nickname he gave her, "Red needs a place to crash."

"And you just happened to figure my temple would be the best place for her why, Dimwit?" Genkai asked.

"'Cause you're a military couch at heart, Granny. I know you can put Red through her paces," Yusuke grinned at Genkai in a cheeky manner.

Genkai sighed, "You can't just leave me to die, can you?"

Yusuke frowned, "Cut that crap out, Granny! You ain't ever gonna hop on the bus to Spirit World!"

Genkai deadpanned a look at Yusuke, "Yusuke, you must understand we are all bound to die at some time in our lives. You mustn't run away from death, otherwise you'll turn into Toguro."

"La, la, la, la, la, la," Yusuke plugged up his ears with his index fingers, making Yukina give him a sympathetic look, "Not listenin' Granny! Just look after Red for me, will ya! I can't leave her at that lunatic-asylum! Most of the dudes and gals that live there are all off of their heads! I ain't kidding either! They're whack-jobs, I swear down! I only Red, a house-lady named Kasumi, and Ryo, my new student seem to be the sanest ones around there!"

"And you decided to involve yourself in other people's affairs, why Dimwit?" Genkai asked expectantly.

"'Cause her old man's a douche," Yusuke grumbled.

Genkai looked at Ranma and the redhead only offered the old lady a shrug of her shoulders and a nod of her head.

"So how about it Granny, you up for training one more lil rascal or what?" Yusuke wondered with a grin on his face and Ranma pouted at Yusuke.

Genkai let out a sigh, "If it shuts you up, I suppose taking on one last disciple wouldn't hurt me or weaken my chances of getting a good place up in the Spirit World." Yusuke pouted at Genkai. As far as he was concerned he was never going to let anyone die. Ever.

"Booyah!" Ranma yelled cheerfully, "Nice one you old hag! I give you my word I won't leg you down! I'll have your techniques down in no time squat!" Yukina looked at Ranma and tilted her head to the side, taking notice to the similarities between her and Yusuke Urameshi.

'She's just like Urameshi-kun. No wonder he brought her here if her home's as bad as he says it is,' Yukina rationalized.

"Who said I was going to teach you anything brat?" Genkai asked grouchily.

Ranma's jaw dropped, "Say what now?"

"I said I'd train you, I didn't say I'd pass anything down to you. You just assumed I would. The techniques I possess can be deadly if used by the wrong hands. If you can't even survive the simple training sessions I will prepare for you then I see no reason why I should show you anything, Dimwit two."

Ranma perked up, "Just watch me you old fart! I'll blitz through anything you can throw at me!" Genkai took a moment to observe the determined expression on the girl's face, enhanced by the fire in her eyes.

"Well I can see why Dimwit one has taken a liking to you," Genkai stated, looking at Yusuke with a teasing smile on her face and her former student blushed in response.

Yusuke threw his arms up in the air in a frustrated manner and made an incoherent noise.

"Real mature of you, Dimwit," Genkai said sarcastically.

"Yeah, yeah," Yusuke groaned in annoyance as he spun on his heels, "I'm outta here anyway. Red I'll catch you later. Right now I gotta pick up Ryo, and put his lost pork ass through military school."

Ranma grinned, "Alright. Tell Pig-boy I'll be waitin' to send his ass on an-all expensive paid trip to the hospital once you get finished with him Yu-chan!" Genkai was intrigued by the endearing honour suffix Ranma added on to Yusuke's name.

Just what did Yusuke do for her gain such respect from her in this short amount of time?

Yusuke must've really been telling the truth. Ranma's hometown must really be a living nightmare.

Yusuke smiled, "Will do!" With that Yusuke casually made Ranma's rear-end jiggle with a cheeky spank, making the redhead flinch while a goofy smile crossed Yusuke's face.

"You perv!" Ranma shouted angrily, trying to spin kick Yusuke, but the trolling boy effortlessly danced his way over to the door, "You come back here!"

Yusuke opened up the door and waltzed on out of it, momentarily poking his head in the door way, "Oh, and granny, just dump some hot water on Red. She'll fill you in on the rest. Buy!" Yusuke then slammed the door shut and left the three women to themselves.

"Little perv," Ranma raged.

"Saotome-san," Yukina began in a gentle manner, making Ranma look at her curiously. The redhead could see a lot of similarities between Yukina and Kasumi, "What did Urameshi-san mean by Genkai-san should pour hot water on you."

"Blame my old man," Ranma deadpanned, brightening up a bit to ask Yukina a question, "Yukina, right?"

Yukina smiled, "That's correct."

"Anyway, Pops took me to a place called Jusenkyo in China despite the fact he couldn't read a lick of Chinese. One thing led to another and we both ended up falling in a couple of springs some random ass girl and fat panda drowned in how many odd years ago," Ranma explained casually, "Bottom line is, we doomed to take on the form of a gal and a panda whenever we splashed with cold water."

"What kind of irresponsible father would foolishly get his own child cursed?" Genkai asked with her arms folded behind her back.

"Mine." Ranma answered with a dry look on her face.

"I can see why Dimwit brought you here then," Genkai said. Yusuke always had a kind heart.

"So that means you were born a male, Saotome-san?" Yukina asked.

"Yep. Hot water turns me back into a guy," Ranma said.

Yukina gave Ranma a bow, "I'm sorry that you have to live your life with such a curse."

Ranma waved her hand dismissively, and winked with a grin on her features, "Don't worry 'bout it. Being a girl does come with it's advantages sumtimes."

"Anyway, she-boy, we'll discuss the conditions of your training in the morning. Right now I'm going back to sleep," Genkai informed, "You'd be smart to get some sleep if you hope to survive the training I've got in stored for you."

"Lady, I'm gonna blow your mind away."

XxX

(Nerima – Tendo Dojo – With Yusuke)

XxX

"Piece of cake," Yusuke grinned.

The teenage half demon threw away a toothpick and casually slid open the door to the Tendo Dojo, sauntering on inside without Ranma Saotome, the 'quote-on-quote', destined heir to this school, by his side.

Yusuke snorted.

As far as he was concerned he had done the right thing dropping Ranma off at Genkai's to be looked after and trained. The old woman may be a lonely, miserable old hag, but Yusuke couldn't deny she was good mother-material.

Just like how Raizen had taken on that fatherly role in Yusuke's life, Genkai had taken on that motherly-role or grandmotherly-role in his life.

Genkai was a good woman and an excellent teacher. She could teach Ranma a few new tricks despite the fact Ranma was already far surpassed her. Ranma was closer to 100% Toguro's level.

Ranma would be fine there. Less pressure on her since there ain't any nut-jobs like Happosai or Kuno to stress Ranma out, or an ignorant fiancée looking to pinpoint the blame for everything on her/him.

There was no doubt in Yusuke's mind that Ranma wasn't ready for a date let alone marriage and to someone like Akane no less, someone who after today seemed like the kind of person who wanted to get mad at Ranma for the sake of losing her temper.

After picking up her pet 'pig' she immediately put the blame on Ranma for the reason why P-chan was keeping away from her and the Tendo Dojo, giving Yusuke a small insight on her negative traits which seemingly shown themselves around Ranma, but funnily enough her more good traits, her sweet persona, only shown itself around Ryoga.

If Keiko had ever shown Yusuke such disdain like he was the worst human being on the planet, but offered such kindness to Kuwabara, he would've bitch-slapped her and never looked at her again. Period. Self-respect was an important thing a man should have.

And Genma honestly wanted his son to abandon his mortals, and his dignify to marry Akane so he and she could selflessly carry on such a school and unite it with the Tendo one.

That wasn't nearly making any sense to Yusuke since Genma wanted Ranma to be a 'man among men'. How the heck can Ranma be a respectful man if he/she can't even be treated respectfully by his own fiancée?

Never mind fiancée; Ranma hasn't even got the luxury of meeting a nice girl and getting to know her slowly.

That wasn't a man in Yusuke's opinion.

Yusuke shook his head as he stealthily entered Akane's room, "Geez. What kinda defence mechanism is strong enough to keep the wool over your eyes, girly?" Yusuke muttered, looking at the sleeping Akane cuddling 'P-chan' rather tightly, as if she was frightened someone would take him away from her.

If it wasn't for today, Yusuke might have been shocked to what Ranma told him on the way to Genkai's. The half girl, half boy told Yusuke Akane had ignorantly threw a bucket of cold water over Ryoga during an episode where some laughing calligraphy martial artist had shown up in town and wasn't accepting a challenge from anyone who couldn't properly write out a letter in curves.

Ryoga had easily wrote out the letter of a formal challenge to the man due to having great handwriting, something Ranma had not, and was a little ashamed of. But even still Ryoga was still beaten and dirtied thoroughly.

How Akane didn't end up finding out about Ryoga's curse was beyond Ranma.

"Must have some kinda fetish for cute animals, eh Blindy," Yusuke mumbled with a look of annoyance on his face.

"Ranma."

"Huh?" Yusuke's chagrin basically called a cab, left the vicinity, and was replaced by interest.

It might have been Yusuke's imagination, but he could have sworn he heard Akane choke back a sob.

So, wanting to satisfy his curiosity before it killed him like it murdered the cat, Yusuke blinked his eyes, and leaned his head closer to get a better look at Akane.

A tear stained Akane's cute face.

"Ranma."

Yusuke let out a heavy sigh, "Ack. What a wishy-washy gal. And piggy really wants to hit _this_?" Yusuke scratched his head, "Did momma not give ya enough attention or what Ryo?" A smirk crossed Yusuke's features, his thumb wiping the bridge of his nose, "If your sights are really locked on Blindy, then I guess I can nudge her in the _right _direction. Man. Generosity spills outta my ass."

Yusuke gently lowered his hand on Akane's head.

XxX

(With Akane)

Akane felt uncomfortable.

A pain she couldn't explain ate at the very fibre of her being.

She ran, but she could not catch up. Her little legs began to ache as she struggled to reach his level, as if longing for his acknowledgment of her being a martial artist capable of walking alongside him; one not just there to slow him down or get shamefully kidnapped.

"Ranma!"

In the abyss of a wide bright pinkish-dimension, Akane's eyes peered desperately at the back of a figure with black hair so long it was tied in a pigtail and reached his high back which was covered by his red sleeveless Chinese top.

"Please don't go! Don't leave me Ran-!"

"Quit whining!" A distinctive and similar masculine voice suddenly commanded with such authority, it made Akane gasp, most likely in sudden shock of him being here.

"Urameshi-san?" Akane drawled out in an uncertain manner.

Yusuke blurred in front of her with a harsh expression on his face like he was scolding a small child.

"You wanna have your fairy tale life with your prince charming, don't ya?" Yusuke asked belligerently, causing Akane to blink before rubbing her eyes as if making sure the hallucination presented before her was real and not a figure of her imagination… in a sense at least.

"Of course I do!" Akane snapped and then crossed her arms over her chest furiously, "What's it to you anyway? I'm sure you're having _fun _with Ranma-idiot!"

Yusuke just shrugged his shoulders. Girl-Ranma would be the most likely choice for a girl he would consider convincing Keiko to have a threesome with, since he enjoyed her personality, and she was hot.

A teenager can dream.

Yusuke's angry look softened to show Akane a look of understanding compassion, "Look. It won't be long until a pig dude comes along and snatches your heart. I wager cupid's arrows on that," Akane blinked at the gentleness in Yusuke's voice. The brash young man was showing a kindness Akane figured a rude, cocky boy like him would be incapable of presenting.

But unfortunately for Yusuke, Akane couldn't see any boy capturing her heart knowing what most were like.

"And what do you know, huh? Boys are icky and gloss, every last one of them! That includes that idiot, Ranma-idiot!" Akane thundered, tears clouding her vision, "Why does every boy have to be so perverted? Huh? Is it too much to ask to find one boy, just _one_, that's kind and considerate to girls? Ones not like _you _and Ranma-idiot!"

"I hate boys!" Akane sobbed.

Yusuke gave the crying girl a look that betrayed none of his thoughts, "Not all dudes are like me, Blindy."

Akane spun her head in the direction of Yusuke's impassive gaze with mask of angrier covering her face, "Don't lie to me! All boys are like that! They don't care how us girls feel! All they care for is themselves!" Akane stomped her foot on the ground, "I had to fight hordes of icky boys every day at school before daddy got me engaged to Ranma-idiot to keep them away from me!"

"Is that why you feel obligated to go through with this sham of a marriage to sate your old man's selfish dream?" Yusuke asked.

"Don't speak about my daddy like that!" Akane screeched commandingly, Yusuke just kissing his teeth and offering the girl a shrug of his shoulders.

"Yet you can't find any holes to poke in my statement, can ya, Blindy?" Yusuke questioned and Akane fumed at his riddles.

"What do you mean by that Urameshi-san? Daddy wants Ranma-idiot and I to unite his and Uncle Saotome's schools!" Akane raged, "It's obvious! Ugh! You're just as stupid as Ranma-idiot!"

"What I mean is, what's your old man's reasoning huh?" Yusuke asked calmly, finally forcing Akane to adapt a pensive expression on her adorable features, complete with blinking eyes, "Is there a golden prize at the end of the tunnel for completing the engagement journey of you and Red?"

"Well, no, daddy didn't tell me why he wanted me to go through with marrying Ranma-idiot, just that we had to unite his and Uncle Saotome's schools," Akane answered meekly, falling into an uncomfortable territory, so she immediately got angry, "But that should be enough Urameshi-san! If daddy says we have to marry, then Ranma-idiot should make the effort of being nice and polite to me! And most of all he should eat my COOKING!"

"So 'cause big daddy says so, it's okay for you to sacrifice your happiness to settle down with someone who grinds your gears?" Yusuke asked with his steely gaze surveying the confused one on Akane Tendo's face.

"I don't get what you mean, Urameshi-san," Akane was very uncomfortable now, and when she got uncomfortable she usually got really mad as if losing her temper was a stress relief to her, "If Ranma-idiot would stop being a jerk, then we could make it work between us! I'm sure of it!"

Yusuke shook his head with a sympathetic look on his face, "Naw. You're missing the ball entirely here. You can't just hand out your heart like a hotcake. It doesn't work like that. You should naturally be able to fall into the one who you'll dig without a shadow of a doubt, like the big-guy upstairs wrote a script and it had you two tying the knot."

Akane blinked at Yusuke's explanation of what made a couple of natural love, "W-what do you mean Urameshi-san? I don't understand!" Akane was beginning to become frustrated now, "Argh! You don't understand!"

"How so?"

"You're asking the impossible!" Akane screeched, "How can I ever fall for a boy without trying! It's stupid! It's stupid! It's stupid! Boys are icky, gross, and stupid perverts! Ranma-idiot's a perfect example of that!"

"Heh. So you're all boys are like street bums to you."

"Damn straight! Icky!"

"I take it Red's rivals are included on that list of pervs, huh?"

"Yes!"

"Even Pig-boy's among that list of Blindy's, eh?"

"Pig-boy?" Akane repeated, realization slowly drowning on her features, "You mean Ryoga-kun?"

"Now you're getting it."

A look of shame appeared on Akane's face, Yusuke grinning as he watched the girl rub her arm as if she was trying to warm herself up, "W-Well R-Ryoga-k-kun's different."

"Care to spill the beans on why Ryo's so special?"

"Because he is!"

"'Cause he's a-."

"Not a pervert!" Akane filled in the blanks of Yusuke's line righteously, "Ryoga-kun's kind, considerate, humble… everything's Ranma-idiot's not! He's not a jerk or a pervert either!" Akane huffed, panting heavily, as if she had just run a marathon, "There! Are you happy now, Urameshi-san!?"

Yusuke grinned, calmly lifting up his hand and placing it on Akane's cheek, causing the youngest Tendo to flinch as Yusuke wiped her tear away, "I think you're getting now, Blindy," Yusuke said with mirth dancing in his eyes, but upon seeing the confusion on Akane's face, he elaborated for her to fully comprehend, "Friendship's the very first few steps to building a relationship."

Akane gasped at the implications, "No! You've got it all wrong, Urameshi-san! Ryoga-kun and I are just fri-"

"Sleep tight Blindy; don't let the bedbugs bite."

XxX

(Tendo Dojo - Akane's bedroom - With Akane)

XxX

"Urameshi-san!"

Akane jolted upright with a pleading look on her face.

Taking in a few deep, staggering breaths, Akane surveyed her surroundings, "I'm in my room," Akane murmured, "Was all that just a dream?" Akane quickly touched her cheek when she felt dry moist on her cheek, "My tear," Akane gasped, "It's gone, which means all of that was real!"

Yusuke's words mulled around in Akane's head as she tried to make sense at what he had meant.

"What could have Urameshi-san possibly meant by friendship comes before a relationship?" Akane wondered dumbly, throwing herself back onto her bed and knocking her head against the pillow, "Oh! This is so hard to understand! Why couldn't Urameshi-san have been more straightforward? Ugh!" Akane grunted as she frowned up at the ceiling of her room.

She was sure she wasn't going to be getting any sleep, any time soon.

Stupid Urameshi and his perverted thoughts!

XxX

(With Yusuke)

"Legs see where Kasumi left your gear, Ryo," Yusuke said, holding up a sleeping P-chan by his ear. A smirk came to his face when he thought about the discussion he had with Akane, who knew the girl could sleep talk, "Heh. You're gonna be kissing the ground I walk on if Blindy ever comes around to her senses, Ryo."

Akane needed to grow up first and foremost. That was a must.

There was no way Akane could live her life thinking boys were icky. That was how seven year old little girls thought of boys before hormones kicked in.

Good lord what in the flipping heck was Soun doing?

How had he not spoken with his daughter of such things, especially given the fact he was planning to marry her off to some guy so she could carry on his school. Yusuke would bet his life that Akane didn't even know Ranma before Soun sprung the engagement on her. That man was selfish with a capital S.

At the very least Soun could give Akane some time to mature mentally before trying to push her into marriage. Marriage was no simple thing. A 'couple' who hadn't even gotten out of first base should be in no position to settle down. Fuck period.

Yusuke believed a relationship between Akane and Ranma would be highly destructive.

"…Well if nuthin' else the old geezers dogged efforts of shoving their dream down Blindy's and Red's throats will keep them away from each other, thus paving the way for Ryo to stealthily sneak in there and scoop Blindy off of her feet," Yusuke rationalized with a sigh escaping his lips, making his way to the last place he saw Ryoga's belongings.

The living room.

And there he saw them neatly folded up on the dinner table; Ryoga's heavy umbrella and backpack still where he left them.

"That house lady musta done this," Yusuke rationalized, picking up Ryoga's backpack and hooking it on his back before sheathing Ryoga's umbrella in the straps of his backpack. He then picked up Ryoga's clothes and made his way to the kitchen to get some hot water to switch Ryoga back into his human form.

Once he made it in the kitchen, Yusuke found the same golden kettle Ranma had used to turn into a guy on the stove underneath a low fire, stream flowing upwards from the kettle to let anyone know it was hot.

"Heh. Goes without saying Ranma becomes a girl often. She must secretly like having a rack and a tight ass that nice," Yusuke smirked, treading over to the kettle and picking it up, but not before sensing someone from around the corner.

"Your stealth skills ain't up to par," Yusuke murmured darkly, a cowardly wince echoing throughout the air, "Come show yourself to the rest of the audience old man."

A gulp was heard from around the corner, Yusuke patiently waiting for Soun to show himself, as a pair of reddened-skinned hands gripped the edges of the wall. Soun's head then nervously poked itself from around the corner, the man carefully walking into the kitchen.

"Y-You've r-returned l-lad," Soun greeted, "Welcome back."

Yusuke turned around, giving Soun a dark glare that him yelp, "Geez ain't you smart boyo. You solved the mystery of the noises coming from somewhere in your house; whoopee doo, where's your partner Scooby Doo?" Soun winced, but held his tongue as Yusuke spread out Ryoga's shirt, umbrella, backpack, and trousers and put him inside of his shirt.

Soun shifted uncomfortably in place, looking around with clear fear evident in his eyes, "S-So, l-lad. D-Did y-you and R-Ranma-kun have a nice walk."

"As good as a walk can be before being ambushed by a cuckoo mocked samurai," Yusuke mumbled blandly, Soun nodding his head stiffly while Yusuke dumped the hot water on Ryoga's head, thus transforming him into his human form.

Ryoga nimbly fitted into his clothes once again.

"Y-Yes, I was aware of two high Ki signatures clashing a few hours ago," Soun stated, trying to calm his nerves down by engaging in small talk with Yusuke, but Yusuke only hummed with a cold expression on his face, which made Soun (grew) more anxious, "S-So, l-lad, I take it you came down to drop off Ranma-kun." Yusuke could see the desperation in Soun's eyes.

Soun swallowed and fidgeted under Yusuke's ice cold gaze, "Red would be here, why now?"

"B-Because t-the l-lad l-lives h-here," Soun answered shakily. His fears were being confirmed.

"How you figure kitty-cat?" Yusuke asked mockingly.

Soun could only let out a pitiful wince at once again being called out for his cowardice.

"Does Red cough up the dosh to live here?" Soun shook his head, opening his mouth to say how Ranma was still technically a youth who lived with his father, but the rude-boy wasn't having any of it.

"As if Lard-ass makes ends-meat for him and Red," Yusuke grumbled, and Soun closed his mouth, "Eh. I don't hear a correction so I must be right. 50 points to me," Soun didn't answer, but his despairing features hardening into frustration spoke volumes, "The defence rests, bitch!"

"Y-Yusuke-kun…" Soun murmured in a begging tone.

A growl was heard from around the corner before Genma came running into the kitchen with an angry look on his features, "Where's my boy?"

"Saotome, no!" Soun pleaded.

"Hey, Lard-ass, I didn't know you were awake. It must be neat freeloading off of your 'quote-on-quote' shogi buddy, eh," Yusuke remarked with a patronizing grin on his features.

"We have an agreement if you must know, boy!" Genma defended himself righteously.

"Oh. I didn't know pawning off your kid counts as payment Lard-ass," Yusuke said, "Guess that must be a medieval thing eh old man."

"Oh ye of so little faith. If you understood our art you wouldn't be keeping m'boy from marrying Akane," Genma told Yusuke with a strict look on his face, "It's a martial artist's duty to see to it that his style is carried on through centuries and centuries. You won't be putting a stop to that boy!"

"Really, now?" Yusuke role-played in a way to frustrate Genma, but the bespectacled man nodded his head anyway, "Come then. School me if you're so knowledgeable, Lard-ass."

"I refuse to fall for your tricks, boy! Now, you're gonna tell me where m'boy is so I can find him, drag him back, and make him apologize to Akane for not eating her cooking! That boy can't be choosy about women!"

Soun nodded in agreement with Genma, "Yes, that'd be for the best, lad."

Yusuke's malevolent chuckle forced cold sweat to run down Genma's and Soun's cheeks, "So you're laying down the law, eh Lard-ass," Genma nodded slowly, trying to strengthen his resolve in the face of the powerhouse-boy who effortlessly outclassed Happosai, "You and what army, Lard-ass?"

To show Genma and Soun a glimpse of his true power, Yusuke merely spiked his reiki as if he was flexing his muscles, cracking the surrounding walls, the ceiling, and forcing the stove, the microwave, the water heater, and the fridge to explode as if small bombs were set on them.

"M-My, m-my, m-my, m-my, m-my," Soun stammered in horror, pointing a shaky finger at the ruined kitchen, "S-Saotome, the lad destroyed my kitchen simply by powering up his Ki."

Genma just stood gawking at Yusuke's destructive power, fear sinking into his eyes.

Yusuke gave Genma a deadly, deathly stare, "You were sayin sumthin 'bout me having to tell ya where Red was? Sorry, but it musta slipped my noggin. Why don't you rewind that last sentence of yours, Lard-ass?"

Genma just bolted past Yusuke and switched on the cold water, splashing himself, and forcing his body to go all fuzzy, as if it were an hallucination getting cancelled out. The fuzziness disappeared, and a black and white panda was left in Genma's place with a panicking expression on its face.

Panda-Genma held up a sign, *Hello someone else's son's friend!*

"Oh Saotome…" Soun sighed.

"Looks like you're not as dumb as I thought you were, Lard-ass," Yusuke mumbled while Ryoga began to rise from his slumber.

"Ah. Now where am I?" Ryoga wondered to himself, surveying his surroundings and widening his eyes at the sight of the kitchen. It looked as if a war had just happened, "Huh? What happened in here?"

"Meh. Just a debate to decide rather or not Red should be outta the race for Blindy's heart. Guess who won?" Yusuke asked, making Soun whimper in a pitiful manner for the nickname Yusuke gave to his lovely daughter, the youngest Tendo.

A confused expression marked Ryoga's features, "Red? Blindy? Who are they?"

"Chick-Ranma and Akane," Yusuke answered.

"Oh." Ryoga replied before raging furiously, "Saotome that damn ingrate! He made Akane-chan cry! I swear I'll beat the crap out of him for hurting Akane-chan! Saotome prepare to die!"

Yusuke looked at Soun with a self-satisfied smile on his face, "Say hello to your lil son-in-law, Scary-cat," Ryoga blushed and Soun flinched.

Soun couldn't deny the fact that Ryoga had treated Akane much better than Ranma had throughout the months Ranma and Genma had been freeloading off of him.

But even still, Ryoga wasn't a Saotome and thus wouldn't be able to merge Soun's school with Saotome's one.

"But-." Soun wailed.

"But nuthin'. Drill this into your thick head pansy-boy, it's not who Blindy loves, but who digs her, you feel me?" Ryoga's blush deepened while Soun just whimpered.

"Come. Legs roll on outta here, Ryo," Yusuke suggested, treading towards the backdoor of the Tendo Dojo.

Ryoga nodded, hastily picking up his backpack and umbrella, "What about Akane-chan?"

"Tomorrow," Soun and Genma winced mentally, but held their tongues.

"Okay," Ryoga accepted, turning towards Soun and offering the man a bow, "Thanks for the hospitality Soun-san. I'll be sure to come by tomorrow. Later."

"Y-Yes, l-lad, It's been a rather… intriguing day with your company," Soun worded very carefully, making Ryoga nod.

Ryoga quickly caught up to Yusuke, "I'm ready, Yusuke-sensei! Where're we off to now?"

"The mountains are always a swell place to start tortu-. I mean training sessions," Yusuke corrected himself with a grin on his face while he and Ryoga walked out into the Tendo Dojo back garden, Ryoga taking notice to the chunk of grass missing, "Yep, time to whip you up into shape."

For a minute there it sounded like Yusuke was going to say torture sessions.

Nah. He didn't mean that.

After all this was the man who was going to raise Ryoga's power level to the point he could beat Ranma Saotome.

"Yes, Yusuke-sensei! I will complete your training and destroy Saotome! Then I'll be able to protect Akane-chan with my own two hands!" Ryoga roared resolutely.

"That's the spirit!" Yusuke complimented while they reached the wall separating the back garden from the open world. Having already lost any semblance of respect he had for Soun Tendo, Yusuke merely finger-poked a huge hole in the wall that made Soun and Genma wince, "Oh. Fair warning though, Red's undergoing her own intensive training with Granny."

"Granny?" Ryoga wondered as he and Yusuke ambled out of the Tendo Dojo garden.

"Yep. So I'll be tripling your workout schedule to counteract that. I hope for your sake you'll come out all guns blazing, 'cause I don't intend to be lax with ya, Ryo, so don't be chickening out half-way, you hear?" Ryoga nodded his head in understanding, a look of fierce determination on his face.

He had waited too long for the day where he could earn the strength to defeat Ranma Saotome.

"Of course! I'll go to any length to teach that damn ingrate Saotome a lesson for treating Akane-chan like dirt! Just watch me grow stronger, Yusuke-sensei!"

"Yeah. I'm counting on ya, Ryo."

XxX

(Tendo Dojo – Kitchen – With Soun and Genma)

"Well, Saotome, what do you suggest we do now?" Soun asked, sighing depressively at the heavy damage of his kitchen.

Genma couldn't even turn himself back into a human because the hot water heater was broken and he'd hastily transformed himself into a panda to avoid a Yusuke-scolding.

*We get Ranma-boy back here to marry Akane!*

"Well-spoken Saotome old friend, but how do we get Ranma-kun back here? Yusuke-kun's made it perfectly clear he won't allow Ranma-kun to marry my lovely Akane-chan, and we already know how powerful he is. He defeated the master without even using his true power. That alone suggests it won't be so simple to get Yusuke-kun to agree with our engagement of Ranma-kun and Akane-chan."

An pensive expression masked Genma's features, and he soon flipped his sign around to reveal more words, *We wait until the boy's sleeping, take him to the mountains, threw him in a cave, and barricade it shut like we did with the master. That'll take care of the boy real good.*

"Yes. Well you forget Yusuke-kun isn't like the master. He's far more powerful than the master, Saotome. You saw the lad's reigan today, with that kind of power he possesses I hardly believe a few boulders will hold him back," Soun said calmly, disappointment appearing on Genma's face before tears ran down his eyes.

*Waa! Our dream of uniting our schools could be over. Waa!* Genma's new sign read.

"I know Saotome!" Soun joined his friend in a good long cry.

How could their dream end like this?

XxX

(Elsewhere Around Nerima – Location Unknown)

XxX

"Hm. This heavy yoki (demon energy) feels identical to _him. _Could it be that he had finally found his ancestral son after so long," A diminutive withered up tiny old lady with long white hair reaching to her feet murmured calmly to herself.

The tiny woman wore a tribal-dress to represent the fierce tribe of Amazonian-women and had a long brown stick next to her.

Koron, alias Cologne, aka 'the old ghoul, a nickname given to her by the hotshot rude-boy Ranma Saotome, had lived a very long life. She had been around for over three hundred years, and witnessed and experienced many things/trials that could scar a man for life.

She had outlived the era where demons reigned supreme and met _him. _He was _the _most powerful demon to ever grace the earth with his presence alone. He had the blood of the celestial race coursing through his veins, the strongest race in history, the Mazoku race.

Even today the very thought of the supreme demon of immense power sent shivers of lust up Cologne's spine.

"Oh. If I were two hundred years younger," She chuckled wryly to herself, standing on the table of her well-known Cat-café she'd quickly established upon arriving in Japan to see to it that her Shampoo had taken out girl-Ranma.

Circumstances had obviously changed with the reveal that Ranma was a guy, a very strong healthy male with the potential to reach his level.

Only his closest friend Enki was rumoured to be his equal.

Enki. His very name brought up fond memories. Cologne had received a letter from Enki a year ago informing her that he reigned supreme over the Makai, for three years at least.

All thanks to the Mazoku's kid suggesting some outrageous idea of a tournament getting hosted every three years to decide a ruler for the Makai.

It was such a fool's idea it was brilliant.

The kid of Raizen had definitely piqued Cologne's interest.

"So brother-in-law's son has come down here to play, eh." Cologne said to herself with a crinkled grin on her features. She had been almost frozen in a state of shock upon feeling Raizen's son's overwhelming power the moment he stepped onto Nerima, to the point she just stayed on this table even when Shampoo asked her if she was going to go to bed.

It felt so similar to Raizen's, Cologne had almost thought it was Raizen himself, but quickly remembered Raizen was far more powerful than his boy.

But even still, the boy's power completely dwarfed hers.

But this was obvious. He was a demon, one of immense S-class power. He was in a class easily capable of destroying the entire earth.

Did he know what kind of power he possessed?

"Hehe. Perhaps I might have to reconsider sending my Shampoo after brother-in-law's sunny-boy instead of son-in-law."

After all the kind of babies he and Shampoo could produce could make the tribe of Amazonian women a most formidable one.


	6. A Fair Warning from the Devil

**Disclaimer: I don't own YuYu Hakusho or Ranma 1/2**

**Legs, Yusuke's and Ranma's way of saying, Let's.**

**It's over. It's done. Minato's been punk'd and Madara'll become perfect. It's done. The world is Madara's.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 6<strong>

**A Fair Warning from the Devil**

Kasumi was doing her usual routine: keeping the Tendo Dojo tidy with a pleasant smile on her face.

Even as the rain poured down and dark clouds hang over Nerima it didn't damper the woman's spirits one bit as she used a broom to sweep up the dust around the Tendo Dojo. She had almost completed her chore and was just gathering the last bit of dust around the entrance of the Tendo Dojo.

"I wonder how Ranma's doing," Kasumi prodded.

It had been a long month since the half boy/girl had been offered a way out of the Tendo Dojo by Yusuke and accepted it.

Kasumi had to admit it had been quite different without Ranma around. Akane had been less prone to anger without Ranma to agitate her. For the first two weeks, Akane did lose her temper with Yusuke when the boy came around with Ryoga, and would always retreat to her room since Yusuke blanked her out like she was beneath him.

Yusuke always sent Ryoga after her to comfort her, and by the time Yusuke and Ryoga would leave, Akane was always sad Ryoga couldn't stay longer.

"Well I'm off to school!" Nabiki said, rushing down the stairs in her school uniform, launching herself at the coat rack and grabbing her rain coat off of the door.

"Leaving so soon?" Kasumi asked, pausing her cleaning of the Tendo Dojo to look at her sister while Nabiki quickly slipped on her shoes and opened up the door.

"I'm trying to avoid Akane's lunch," Nabiki said with a smile, scurrying out of the door while simultaneously putting on her rain coat.

"Oh Nabiki-imouto…"

XxX

(With Akane)

XxX

The youngest Tendo was walking to school while sighing tiredly, "That girl. I made an extra lunch for her. She didn't have to run off and leave." Akane complained to herself.

After a month without Ranma around, Akane inexplicably felt a lot more relaxed. Granted she still got a tad frustrated when Uncle Saotome and daddy tried to make up excuses for not eating her cooking, but she had never really lost her temper.

She wondered why.

Did this have something to do with her dream involving Urameshi-san?

Akane had tried to block said question from her mind when the realization drowned on her that Urameshi-san had taken Ranma away, worse still was that jerk had willingly agreed to go along with Urameshi-san.

Grrr!

How could he be so thoughtless?

They were all worried sick about him-!

Well Nabiki slowed very little emotion to Ranma's departure from the Tendo Dojo.

Uncle Saotome and Soun seemed more concerned with finding Ranma so they could get him and Akane hooked as soon as possible than the boy's actual well-being. And Kasumi… she was as optimistic as ever and had a feeling Ranma would come back far stronger than ever, since Urameshi-san insisted Ranma was off training hard.

Yusuke occasionally popped down to the Tendo Dojo with Ryoga, something Akane was grateful for since she cried a lot on Ryoga's shoulder. If Yusuke ever took Ryoga away Akane wouldn't know what she would do.

Kuno was surprisingly absent too. No one had seen the mocked samurai since the night a city block around downtown was found dismantled.

Akane would bet her beloved P-chan those jerks Ranma-idiot and Urameshi-san had something to about that. That was possibly why Urameshi had gone and taken Ranma-idiot into hiding since the boy wasn't nearly as powerful as him!

Daisuke and Hiroshi, two guys Ranma occasionally associated with in school, had inquired the whereabouts of Ranma, but after Akane had told them she more or less didn't give a damn they had just shrugged and continued on in their merry way.

In fact the only people who really shown sorrow for Ranma's disappearance were Shampoo, Ukyo, and Kodachi Kuno. And Kodachi was an odd one. She seemed more worried where Ranma was than her own brother, Tatewaki Kuno.

And they were only worried about him because they wanted to jump Ranma's bones.

"Argh! That pervert! I don't know why I even bother!" Akane screeched thunderously, powering up her angry aura, "Argh! I bet him and Urameshi-san both plotted a elaboration plan to cause a ruckus and steal my P-chan away!"

Akane grumped, stomping off towards school in a sour manner. Much of her time spent carrying her school bag and wearing her school uniform and rain coat was used to think how much of a jerk Ranma was, taking off like that without even informing it anyone where he was going.

He'd be receiving the cold shoulder if he ever returned to Nerima.

"Hey, Akane-chan!" One of Akane's closest female friends in Sayuri greeted her brightly, standing next to the Furinkan high school's gate with her and Akane's other best friend in a girl named Yuki.

Akane immediately felt her anger dissolve and her sweet persona resurface looking at her friends, "Hello, Sayuri-chan, hi Yuki-chan, thanks for waiting for me."

"That's okay, Akane-chan," Yuki said with a bright smile on her features, the smile vanishing to be replaced by a look of uncertainty, "You must be going through a rough time with your fiancé Ranma AWOL."

Akane stiffened, straightening her disdain of the pigtailed martial artist, "Ranma? Who's he? Never heard of him!" Akane shifted her head to the sky with a look of annoyance on her face, then chose to lead the way into the school building, but her friends held back a second.

"Poor thing," Sayuri whispered sympathetically.

"They must have gotten into another fight," Yuki guessed sagely, "Gosh. It's been a month now; you think they're really finished."

"That wouldn't be smart of Ranma, but then again he isn't exactly ranked anywhere near the top of the exam boards. Most of the guys in this school would give their right arms to be with Akane-chan," Sayuri said, earning herself a nod of agreement from Yuki.

"C'mon Yuki-chan, Sayuri-chan, we're going to be late for class if we don't make a move on it," Akane insisted, Yuki and Sayuri both nodding their heads and moving to catch up with Akane, "What were you two talking about?"

"Oh, not a lot, just how many guys would die to go out with you, Akane-chan," Sayuri explained with a smile on her face and Akane snorted.

"All the boys are a bunch of icky perverts!" Akane stated.

"I'm half surprised they don't challenge you to a fight like they used to before Ranma showed up," Yuki prodded.

"I'm not. Upperclassman Kuno isn't around to bark out their orders," Akane said.

"I wonder where Kuno-senpai is anyway," Yuki wondered, "He hasn't been in school since that day everyone was trying to beat up Ranma," Hearing confirmation from her friend that Ranma had disappeared around the same time as Kuno, her mind could only come to one conclusion.

"I could less where those two perverts are anyway!" Akane screeched angrily, putting apologetic looks on her girlfriends' faces.

They sure felt sorry for when Ranma would get back.

XxX

(Elsewhere)

"Look at that boy."

"He's… not normal."

"How can he do that?"

"Is… he a monster?"

"Mommy, mommy, look at the strong boy carrying the big rock!"

"Don't look at him sweetie!"

"Oh dearest Akane-chan, although I have left you to venture around Toyohashi City, I hope to bring you back something nice to prove my undying devotion to you. Then maybe, just maybe, you'll see me for more than just a good friend who has an extra shoulder for you to cry on."

Ryoga mused with a determined expression on his face.

Luckily, the massive boulder he was carrying shielded him from the rain and kept him from turning into P-chan.

Ryoga's new clothes were _specifically _designed for him. He wore a 50ibs yellow long sleeve top underneath an 80ibs green sleeveless Gi top, 20ibs green trousers, and 20ibs sandals on his feet. The only non-weighted clothes Ryoga wore were a yellow obi tied around his wrist and his trademark bandanna wrapped around his forehead.

His master hadn't been going easy on him this past month.

"Any money the hairs on the back of my neck are gonna turn grey before I even reach forty," Yusuke muttered, sighing, and watching his student on top of a tall building after the boy had somehow lost sight of him and journeyed off on his own.

In fact he had been doing that consistently ever since Yusuke started training him.

Luckily, Yusuke had gotten himself a little apartment around Nerima, so if Ryoga ever got lost training, Yusuke would go to his pad, chill out for a bit, then go retrieve the lost-boy by sensing out his reiki-signature.

Ryoga was too dedicated to his training to pay attention where he was going sometimes.

"Ryo weren't kiddin' when he said his sense of direction was all outta whack. Shit. I got an avalanche of work fixing him," Yusuke said, holding up his knee to his chest while the other hung over the edge of the building.

Still Ryo had potential though. Yusuke couldn't deny that. The kid was an absolute beast when it came to tanking blows with enough power packed in them to eradicate buildings into pieces, and he was fully devoted to getting stronger, a concept Yusuke was quite foreign with.

The kinks Ryo had to improve on were keeping his temper in check. It was pretty easy to get the boy riled up if someone insulted Akane. Plus his speed was rather poor for B-class standards.

Yusuke cracked a smile at the feel of a distinctive reiki-signature nearing his location, "Seems Granny's issued Recess for Red."

"Yu-chan!" Ranma's feminine voice echoed throughout the air.

Yusuke looked down the building and saw the redhead standing there with her hands cupping her mouth, "Pull up a seat, Red." Yusuke ushered her up with a flick of his hand, making Ranma shrug as she disappeared from sight to the gawks of amazement of those who seen her on the ground a second before reappearing on the building next to Yusuke, looking perky.

"Someone's in a good mood," Yusuke commented, "Sup, the old hag let you out to play?"

"Good to see you too, buddy," Ranma said with a grin on her face, her hands neatly folded behind her back.

Yusuke shook his head out of amusement, "Yeah, for real," He looked at the redhead and scanned her appearance. She was wearing a soaking white vest-top, which clung to her body, along with her navy blue sweat pants, two blue _wristbands _on her _wrists, _and Chinese shoes on her feet, "Did you enjoy your field trip to boot camp, Red?"

"Yep!" Ranma chirped, "No school, no crazy ass fiancées to have to deal with, 'cept for Ucchan, she's cool, and no repeatedly gettin' my ass booted from the Tendo Dojo by Mr Tendo! Not a lot more a guy coulda asked for, this past month's been like a vacation!"

"Huh?" Yusuke said dumbly, scratching the side of his cheek.

Ranma surveyed her friend's confused look pensively, "What's nibbin' at ya, Yu-chan?"

"Ahhhh, it's 'nuthin," Yusuke brushed it off with a wave of his hand, "I just had this crazy thought you woulda been bitching like I did when I first started gettin' whipped up into shape by Granny."

"Granny's a real salve driver, alright," Ranma nodded her head in understanding, "But I soldered through her torture sessions as easy as A. B. C! I'm still kicking after burning through Pop's military workout schedule after all! And that says something, 'cause Pops weren't no momma when it came to puttin' me through my paces."

"Yeah," Yusuke uttered sourly, a dark gleam shadowing his eyes at the mention of Genma.

"'Sides, at least this time I have someone to chat with. Yukina-chan's so sweet. That Kuwabara-guy's one lucky guy to have her," Ranma said excitedly. Her enthusiasm of meeting sane people was enough to keep her oblivious to Yusuke's malevolent look.

No poetic mocked samurais, no poorly emulated Hawaiian principles, no witch-styled girl with a creepy giggle, no clingy Chinese amazon girl with bad grammar, and no tomboys with a short fuse; just good, likable people with a healthy mentality Ranma had found in Genkai and Yukina in Yusuke's hometown.

It felt refreshing to her to meet people like that.

"Yeah. Goofball had a seven leaf clover in his back pocket when he scored Yukina," Yusuke muttered jokingly, giving Ranma a jesting look, which quickly turned into a leering one, "Maybe I could get lucky with you tonight."

"Shove it!" Ranma commanded and crossed her arms over her chest, "I already got enough of that from Pu-chan! I couldn't stay in my girl-form for two secs without him checking me out like a piece of meat!"

"Oh, well, y'know, sometimes the lil guy likes showering love to my homes," Yusuke explained sheepishly, grinding his cheek with his index finger.

"Don't gimme that crap from your ass, Yu-chan! Ya 'know why Pu-chan has his sights honed on me like I'm the best thing since sliced bread!" Ranma shouted, causing Yusuke to laugh nervously, and Ranma saw her chance to tease Yusuke, and she seized it expertly.

"It's 'cause ya got the hots for my girl-form," Ranma teased, lifting up her arm above her head to give Yusuke a sexy pose, "But then again, who could blame ya for gettin' butterflies in your stomach when you're eyeballing a body like this."

"Ah, ah, ah, mouth young lady," Yusuke chided her in good spirits.

"I ain't that much younger than ya," Ranma rebuked with a roll of her eyes.

"The difference in our strength-levels says otherwise."

Ranma bristled, "Oh! So I ain't worth your time huh? Was that why you wouldn't duke me in our sparring match last month, 'cause you were afraid one mimsy flippin' wallop would be enough to break me like a friggy old lady!?"

"C'mon don't be like that-."

"Forget it!" Ranma crossed her arms and turned away from Yusuke, "You can take your weak-ass attempt of patronizing me, dust it off, turn it sideways, and stick it straight up your candy ass!" Ranma stomped her foot angrily on the ground, "And to think I actually missed you!"

Yusuke had a confused expression on his face, "It's only been one month."

"So!" Ranma turned around to glare at Yusuke, "Whaddya expect to feel when you meet a stand-up, sane guy after like what? Friggin years of pounding loonies straight from the mental house huh?"

Yusuke understood now, the girl was really starved of any and all friends, "Look-," Yusuke started to say in an apologetic manner, but Ranma turned away from him with a pout, "I said some things straight outta my ass. Don't let your shoulder create the ice age."

Ranma flinched slightly when Yusuke clasped her shoulder, but otherwise didn't say anything.

"Tell you what; I'll make it up to ya."

"How so?"

Yusuke contemplated that for a few seconds.

"You can crash at my pad while you're here and I'll cook you up some grub," Yusuke offered and Ranma thought the offer over for a few seconds.

"Throw in some ice cream and you have yourself a deal."

Yusuke removed his hand from Ranma's shoulder and held his hands up in the air with a relieved grin on his features, "Done."

"Awesome!" Ranma grinned widely, hooking her arm around Yusuke's, "Since I'm a girl anyway, we might as well make like bananas and split to the Ice cream parlour!"

"Heh," Yusuke let out humourlessly, "Didn't know you had to be of a feminine sex to quality for eatin' ice cream."

"Of course! Guys can't eat ice cream! It's not manly!"

"Your old man's really done a number on you, huh?"

"Kick your butt into gear and follow me to sugary deliciousness!"

"Lead the way, Red."

With that Yusuke and Ranma hopped off of the building and landed on the ground with the grace of a highly skilled figure skater, earning several gawks from the bystanders who had watched the superhuman duo leap off of a building and not even dent the ground as if it were easy.

Ranma didn't get the chance to lead her friend to the ice cream parlour, because she sensed an all-too familiar Ki-signature rapidly approaching her and Yusuke, as if the person wanted to ambush them. The narrowing of Ranma's eyes came around about the time heavy footsteps echoed throughout the air and splashed the soaked ground.

"Red?"

"Got it," Ranma assured coolly, casually back-fisting panda-Genma in his face and sending him shooting away in a twirling motion of wind. The panda's body hit the ground and shattered it on his way to slamming into a wall.

Ranma turned around, "Have a nice flight, Pops?"

Genma shot up to his feet furiously, holding up in a sign, *Boy! You're coming home this instant to apologize to Akane! No buts!*

"No way, Pops!" Ranma shouted in resistance.

*Don't speak to your father like that, boy! You'll marry Akane immediately!*

"Oooo! I'm shaking," Ranma said mockingly, feigning a shiver, "Sup, Pops, are Pig-boy and tomboy gettin' too cosy for yours and Mr Tendo's liking?"

*That's not the point, boy! Tendo and I have a dream to unite our schools! You won't be ruining that!* Genma flipped his sign around, *Now say goodbye to **him **and bring yourself home now!*

"To a place where you don't even pay the rent Pops? Real smooth old man," Ranma snorted.

*I'm warning you to come home and apologize to Akane now!*

"Make me," Ranma dared him.

*You've asked for it, boy,* Genma chucked his sign away and charged Ranma down.

"You got this covered?" Yusuke asked, observing Genma charging down girl-Ranma to bring her home.

"Yeah! Pops is as good as toast," Ranma assured, receiving a nod from Yusuke as he ghosted away from Ranma to give the redhead some room to fight her pops.

Genma's claw came hurtling towards Ranma, but the speedy redhead danced around his claw, lowering herself to the ground and taking out Genma's legs.

Genma fell to the ground with a, "Grr!"

"Heh. Ain't no convenient stop signs to assist your glutton ass this time, huh Pops," Ranma said with a cocky grin spreading across her face.

Genma wobbled to his feet and held up a sign, *Lucky shot!* Genma then tried to use that sign to whack Ranma down to the ground as if he were playing a game of mole-in-the-hole, but Ranma elegantly hand-sprung out of the way.

Not giving her father anytime to recover from his missed strike, the redhead did a front-flip forward before leaping in the air and twisting her body around like a corkscrew, throwing her leg out to nail Genma in his head.

Genma was able to not only block the kick, but also trap Ranma's leg in his panda's claw, digging his nails into her leg, then shook her about.

"Kyaaa!" Ranma was starting to get dizzy, and then she felt like she was on an out-of-control plane heading on a one-way collision course to the ground. Genma was looking to smash her pretty head off of the concentre floor, hoping the hit would knock some sense into his son.

Luckily, Ranma thought with expert precision, slamming her hands on the ground and softening her impact.

With the feeling of Genma's claw still trapping her leg, Ranma barrel-rolled forward, stabbing her free leg into Genma's chest and forcing the man to cough out saliva. This weakened Genma's grip on her leg enough so she could push the panda away from her.

"Just give it up, old man! It's ain't gonna work out between me and tomboy," Ranma told Genma, watching him stagger to his feet and hold up a sign.

*Yes it will.* Genma flipped his sign around, *I'll make sure of that!*

Ranma shook her head, "Keep dreamin' Pops," Ranma dashed towards Genma, "In the meantime I'll be in reality taking your ass to the cleaners and leaving it out to dry!" Genma threw a claw at Ranma, but the redhead ghosted speedily to the side, shocking Genma of her speed.

*Such speed!* Genma's sign read while Ranma fell back in the place of whence she came from so fast an afterimage was left in her place, and another illusion of Ranma was created when Ranma appeared at her Pop's other side in the blink of an eye.

Then that Ranma turned ghostly the moment Ranma zipped behind her Pops, who had a look of horror on his face witnessing Ranma's speed.

Genma was starting to get dizzy, while Yusuke smirked at the multiple Ranmas, "Granny done you justice, Red. Lard-ass there looks like he's 'bout to gain spinning eyes balls with the way you're dancing around him. Heh. Looks like I gotta up the intensity of Ryo's training if he wants to keep up with you."

Genma felt the air leave his lungs, Ranma's fist now buried inside of his abdomen. Trying to grab Ranma's arm, Genma was thrown off balance when Ranma retracted her arm.

Looking to press on her advantage, the redhead tucked her foot into Genma's stomach, using it as leverage to flip up, and knock Genma in his chin, forcing his head to shoot up. Once landing on her feet, Ranma ducked to the ground and spun her leg around, knocking Genma's feet off of the ground and making the panda fall to the ground.

But before Genma could complete his descent to the ground, he felt a city-block-eradicating blow delivered to his back so hard it sent him flying upwards to the sky; Ranma's leg held up in a graceful fashion.

Ranma's confidence was increasing by the second now, so much so a golden aura of immense confident Ki shrouded her body as if she had inexplicably mastered the legendary sacred aura, either that or she had become a Super Saiyan.

Ranma let a smirk grace her features, as she ran to a building and used her speed to sprint up it, pushing herself off it in a back flip, and honing her leg on Genma's tummy, "All aboard on the express way, location: the ground!" Ranma quipped, upside down kicking Genma with so much force blood spewed out of his mouth and he was sent rocketing to the ground.

The shockwave was enough to open up a huge crater in the ground and shatter a couple of buildings into pieces, making the watching civilians wince from the demonstration of Ranma's destructive power.

Ranma landed skilfully on her feet, "Done already, Pops? Heh. That could barely be classified as a warm up," The bystanders swallowed hard in a nervous fashion.

That redhead girl wasn't even using her true power!?

Just how powerful was she?

A battered and bloodied Genma struggled to his feet, weakly holding up a sign, *You asked for this, boy! Just remember it's for your own good!* The civilians' eyes widened as a blue power surfaced from Genma's body, like Ranma's golden one, and coated his body like armour.

"Looks like he's cookin' up something big, Red," Yusuke stated, "Best be ready to throw it back in his face."

"Yeah," Ranma mumbled, keeping her guard up while her father's eyes lost its pupils and the sclera turned light blue, "Pops is takin' off the kid-gloves now," A smirk crossed Ranma's features, "Bring it old man! I'm ready for whatever trick you'll pull from your hat of nonsense!"

Genma held up a sign, *Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts Final Attack-.* Ranma would come to regret those words, as Genma spun around in a complete 360 spin, chucking a small white feline he pulled from out of nowhere at his son-turned-daughter, much to Ranma's horror.

But Genma only arrogantly flipped his sign around, *Hadoken!*

"Huh? What's a fuzz ball gonna do to Re-?"

"Kyaaaaaa!" Yusuke's musings was cut short by the terrified shriek coming from Ranma. The cat landed on Ranma's head who had tears in her eyes, "Get it off of me! Get it off of me!"

Yusuke stared dumbfounded at his scared friend, "Red's got a problem with fuzz balls," Yusuke looked at Genma to see the Panda had tears pouring down his eyes.

Genma whipped out another sign from somewhere, *It's for your own good, boy! Now, this'll teach you to never again try and abandon the Tendo Dojo, and your engagement to Akane, you foolish boy!* Knowing the consequences of what would occur if he allowed the cat to stay settled on Ranma's head, Genma rushed Ranma in the hopes of blackening her lights out and taking her back to the Tendo Dojo.

Yusuke stared at the struggling Ranma for a moment as if to see if she could counter Genma's attack. It was clear the only goal Ranma had in her mind was managing to get the cat off of her head and curling up in a ball.

Yusuke shrugged, "This is the part where I tag myself in, I suppose," After Yusuke vanished from sight, relief washed over Ranma, but the redhead felt the strength in her knees drain from the fear of a cat trying to eat her brain out so she fell to her knees.

Genma growled painfully; the feeling of his wrist getting clamped by the jaws of a pit-bull brought his final attack on Ranma to a sudden halt.

Genma's eyes locked on fearfully to the dark ones of Yusuke. He could see the struggling cat hanging in Yusuke's hand.

"Final attack, huh?" Yusuke said in a dark, amused wryly tone of voice.

*Hello someone else's son's friend!* Genma's sign read as he had a panicked expression on his face.

Yusuke smirked in a cocky fashion at the frightened expression on Genma's features, "Consider this your first and last warning, Lard-ass. Pull that shit on Red again, and you won't live to see thanksgiving, much less Christmas! For your sake, I hope you get my drift, 'cause I don't hand out second chances like Halloween candy!"

Genma roared in agony; the obnoxious sound of cracking bones made the crowd 'Ohhh' before Yusuke casually flicked his wrist, sending Genma on a one-way trip to the clouds.

Genma pulled one last sign from out of nowhere with his good hand before going back to nursing his broken wrist, *Looks like I'm blasting off again!* Then he was no more but a mere sparkle in the sky.

Yusuke coolly spat saliva out of his mouth and onto the floor, "See ya next fall Lard-ass," Yusuke said, walking over to Ranma who flinched reflexively, "You okay, Re-?"

"Keep it away from me!" Ranma shouted, pointing a trembling finger at the cat in Yusuke's grip.

Yusuke blinked and looked at the struggling cat, "You heard the lady," Yusuke bent down and dropped the cat to the ground, making sure it was facing away from Ranma, "Scram!"

The cat obeyed and made itself scarce.

Ranma let out a sigh of relief, "I can't believe that old man would pull that shit on me!"

"That was a douche move to pull," Yusuke mumbled, "I'll admit."

"I know, right?!" Ranma ranted, growling exasperatedly, "Damn him! Damn that cheatin' panda! I won't forgive him for this!"

Yusuke dropped his impassive look to offer the angry girl a look of sympathy, "Yeah. He ain't much better than my own deadbeat, no show old man," Ranma looked up at Yusuke in a curious manner, but the insanely powerful boy only shook his head and offered her his hand, "C'mon, legs bounce to the ice cream parlour. We can dig up dirt on our old mans there. Whaddya say, Red?"

That put a smile on Ranma's face as she took Yusuke's hand and was helped up to feet.

"Sounds like a plan Yu-chan!" Ranma agreed and Yusuke nodded his head as the two made their way to the ice cream parlour.

XxX

(Furinkan High School)

"Kay, kay, me bring in a new teacher! Yeah!" The mocked Hawaiian principle of Furinkan High School and father of the insane sibling Kodachi and Tatewaki crazily shouted to the class featuring the likes of Akane and Ukyo.

"A new teacher, huh? I wonder who that could be," Hiroshi wondered.

"Maybe it'll be a new babe or something," Daisuke drooled, "Maybe we can get some attention now that Ranma ain't here," For now at least. Daisuke still hoped Ranma would come back to school one day, despite being jealous of him.

"Shush! Keep your voice down dude! Do you want Akane to hear you?" Hiroshi warned.

"Oh, right," Daisuke said sheepishly, turning his head to see Akane with an irritated expression on her face, "My bad Akane."

"Don't mind me. By all means go back to your private conversation," Akane snapped sourly, making Daisuke and Hiroshi wince while a smirk graced Ukyo's face.

'Looks like trouble in paradise for Ranchan and Akane. Not long now until their entire engagement falls to pieces, then I'll swoop in and take Ranchan for myself. Besides, I'm the cute fiancé anyway,' Ukyo mused. Her long brown hair fell to her lower back and was tied in a ponytail by a white hair-scrunchy and she had dark eyes.

Unlike the other girls in the classroom Ukyo Kuonji did not wear the girl's school uniform, but opted to wear the boy's one instead. That consisted of a medium blue blazer jacket matched by medium blue trousers, and shoes on her feet.

Being an okonomiyaki chief, and a damn good one at that Ukyo carried all the essentials used for making what she made best on her back as if they were swords.

'Ah. I could just imagine what a life would be like married to Ranchan,' Ukyo sighed mentally, slipping into a blissful daydream of her and Ranma walking alongside a beach. Because of this, she failed to notice the door open and her fellow classmates floored by a mass amount of malevolence which entered the room.

'W-What i-is t-this feeling? T-This aura, It… feels like… like someone wants to kill us all!' Akane mused, observing the frightened expressions on her friends' faces. Even non martial artist could feel this overwhelming amount of killing intent bearing down on their shoulders as if it were spiritual pressure.

Dull, almost lifeless, sounds echoed throughout the air; a tall, serious looking man stepping into the classroom. He was bald, but had a scar engraved on his left cheek, a brown moustache and a matching goatee. His sunglasses-clad eyes scanned the room and sent chills up everyone's spines, only Ukyo was an exception to this since she was stuck in dreamland.

He wore a long black trench coat stretching down to the floor, over a black blazer jacket which was over a white dress shirt complete with a red tie; black trousers, posh black shoes, and one black glove covering his right hand.

"Kay, kay, keiki, keiki, de new teacher is S-san!" Principle Kuno announced grandly.

"Leave." S-san commanded in a cold tone of voice and principle Kuno gave him his signature crazy grin before running stupidly out of the classroom.

An uncomfortable silence descended upon the classroom with no one willing to speak to their new teacher with the amount of malevolence he was unleashing upon them.

"Listen. I don't like to speak twice. Do not make me repeat myself," S-san warned and the students gave him meek nods in response. S-san walked over to the chalk board and picked up the chalk, "The name's Mr Suraisā. For short you may call me Mr S," Mr S told his students as he wrote his full name on the chalk board followed by the contraction form of it.

Mr S slammed down the chalk with enough force that it made the students flinch.

"Now then, listen up, you maggots. I'm about to lay down some ground rules. Firstly: no talking in my class, if you break this rule, you will suffer the consequences. Secondly, no chewing in my class, if I by any chance catch any of you chewing, there will be consequences to suffer," By this point Mr S was gripping his desk table so hard he chipped off a piece of it to make his point.

"Thirdly, you will wear the correct uniform, by any chance I find someone not wearing the proper uniform, punishment will be served. Lastly, and most important rule, all of you punks will listen when I speak. If you have the audacity to disobey this rule then let's just say.-"

The force Mr S applied to the table was enough to snap it half, causing the students to gulp hard.

"…-You will be broken." Mr S stated with a sadistic smirk crossing his features.

Ukyo just looked up at Mr S, her eyes narrowing, 'Something tells me I won't get along with this jackass.'

The other students were scared shitless of Mr S and his overwhelming sense of self-righteousness, and sadly, it seemed Mr S had the power to back it up.

"Y-You can't do that!" Akane spoke up bravely, causing Yuki and Sayuri to gain looks of worry on their faces for their friend's fate.

"Akane-chan…" Sayuri whispered pleadingly.

Akane blanched when Mr S' stoic form turned to her; it was too difficult to read the madman with those sunglasses covering his eyes, 'Beautiful.' Mr S smirked mentally, 'I could use her to lure that freak to me. Hahaha. It'll be like killing two birds with one stone.'

The boss sent him here to kill the freaks who had abused their Jusenkyo curses. The scums. It was the company's job to see to it that law and order must be upheld no matter the cost. They simply couldn't allow a boy using his curse for evil.

"I'm sorry, but did I hear you opposing me, little girl? You don't know me, so I'll be willing to overlook this… misunderstanding with a simple apology." Mr S baited.

Akane shivered. She didn't miss the subtle warning in Mr S' voice, but she refused to back down in the face of Mr S and his brutality, as she was a martial artist, "I-It's not right! Teachers shouldn't be abusing their students!"

Her fellow classmates pitied and feared for her safely when Mr S started taking slow, but purposeful footsteps towards her, "Oh. Is that right little girl?" Mr S asked sadistically, "From what I heard from principle Kuno, students have been assaulting him since the day he arrived here. I see no reason why I shouldn't do the same. I'm technically a god among ants in this school after all."

Akane scowled reflexively; Mr S' arrogance reminded her of a certain pigtailed martial artist, but as she looked up at the sick-twisted teacher, she felt her anger and courageousness slip away staring up at the emotionless face of Mr S, and feeling his malevolent aura bearing down on her shoulders.

Just how could a human have no emotion on one's face?

"I-I'm a m-martial a-artist!" Akane insisted, trying her best to muster up some courage to face down Mr S, "Y-You don't scare me!"

Mr S licked his lips, a gleam of purple glinted in his left eye, "You believe that little girl?" Akane gave the man an uncharacteristic shy nod of her head.

Akane didn't know what happened next but she felt like a car was suddenly chucked in her face. The youngest Tendo cried out in pain as she was launched away from her desk and to the wall where she crashed into it and cracked it.

"Akane-chan!" Sayuri and Yuki cried out simultaneously, worry and fear in their voices. They didn't even see Mr S' hand move, much less backhand Akane away as if she was no more but a mere pesky bee on his shoulder.

"Oh no, he's crazy! He'll kill us all!" Hiroshi trembled.

Ukyo scowled, shooting up to her feet angrily, "You jackass!"

Mr S merely waved her off and walked over to Akane, "You see kids, this'll happen if you get the boldness to fight against me," Mr S stated, staring down at the injured Akane with an expression that betrayed none of his thoughts.

"Akane-chan," Yuki whined quietly, on the verge of tears seeing her friend overpowered by the powerful Mr S.

Mr S grabbed a handful of Akane's hair, pulling the girl in the air as if she weighed nothing, "Kyaaaaa!" Akane shrieked painfully.

"No! Please let Akane-chan go! I'm begging you!" Sayuri begged and the others watched with horror on their faces at Mr S' merciless punishment of Akane.

What had their madman of principle done, hiring someone this powerful, ruthless, and stony-hearted to be their new teacher?

Ukyo left her seat and unsheathed her spatula, flying over to Mr S with the intent to beat him into submission, "Let her go you jackass!" Ukyo's spatula collided heavily with the back of Mr S, Ukyo smirking until she realized she hadn't even made the sadistic man budge despite hitting him with all her strength.

Mr S turned his head over his shoulder to look at her, "You are quite the formidable warrior, there is no denying your strength. If I were a normal human that blow would've annihilated me."

'Normal human?' Ukyo mused with a gawk on her features, 'He is saying he isn't human? Just what kind of monster did our jackass of a principle hire?' Ukyo contemplated before feeling a devastating boulder-crashing blow connect with her cheek, sending her spiralling out of control.

Luckily, all those years of practicing her own style of martial arts left Ukyo very much flexible and adaptable. So it went without saying the girl was able to gain control over her trajectory by slamming her hands on the ground and bringing herself to a stop.

Mr S was impressed.

'She is a strong one that girl. The boss shall be pleased with my discovery.' After all the company only had knowledge on the freaks who visited Jusenkyo and gotten themselves cursed.

Only recently had the company decided to do some research on those closest to the ones cursed so they could use them against them - Hence Mr S' brutal treatment of Akane.

Oh yes, Mr Hibiki would be furious once he found out his precious Akane-chan had been mercilessly attacked.

He'd be coming for Mr S' head. There was no doubt about it.

Mr S let go of Akane's hair, allowing the youngest Tendo to land on her knees with her head lowered, taking in deep breaths. Mr S merely moved away from her, giving Yuki and Sayuri the opportunity to run to Akane's side and place their hands on her shoulders comfortingly.

"He will come for me." Mr S murmured.

The students all looked at him in confusion, but Mr S simply looked at the window, and pictured an semblance of a little piglet with a yellow bandana wrapped around its neck glaring hatefully at him.

"Yes, he'll indeed come for me. I can't wait."

Mr S would soon come to realize just how bad of decision he had made by making an enemy out of the powerful Hagane no Shōnen (Boy of Steel).

XxX

Ryoga gasped and he instantly brought his sprinting across 'Toyohashi City' to an abrupt halt.

Ryoga didn't know why, but he felt a sudden wave of danger hit him. He felt his heart clenching as a semblance of his dear Akane-chan appeared in his mind.

Ryoga dropped the soaking wet boulder onto the ground and looked up at the sky, picturing Akane-chan's beautiful face looking down at him with… melancholy in her eyes.

It couldn't be. Ryoga vowed to himself he would protect Akane-chan no matter what. There was no way she could be sad. If she was, then that would mean someone had hurt her, and if someone was brave enough to hurt her Ryoga would make sure to murder the culprit where he stood.

Nobody messed with Akane. Nobody!

When one messed with Akane then that one messed with Ryoga!

"Dear Akane-chan, what has happened to you?"


	7. A Pillar of Light Explodes In The Sky!

**Disclaimer: I don't own YuYu Hakusho or Ranma 1/2.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 7<strong>

**A Pillar of Light Explodes In The Sky!**

"No fucking way!"

"Yes way!"

"I don't believe it!"

"You better believe it!"

"Your old man actually dressed you as a tuna-fish sausage and left you to a tribe of hungry cats?"

"That's the gist of it," Ranma shrugged, stuffing a mouthful of ice cream in her mouth that Yusuke had bought her, while said boy laid flat on the double seats of the ice parlour with his arms folded behind his head in a relaxed fashion.

Yusuke pursued his lips with a frown, "Lard-ass needs to get his head sorted out if he thinks throwing a lil squirt to a ton of crazed hungry fuzzy-balls will make him master a style," Yusuke shifted his arms for good measure and sighed, "Dumbest freaking thing I've ever heard."

Ranma dived into her strawberry-flavoured ice cream once again, "Right. I can't even go near a fuzz-butt without going into flashback-mode."

"Who can blame ya?" Yusuke asked with a deadpan look on his face, "With the shit you went through I'm half surprised you didn't ditch your old man, and go fugitive."

Ranma paused her devouring of the sugary treat in front of her to address Yusuke with a small tremble in her hand, "L-l-leave P—Pops? I-I-I d-dunno if I could do that. He's been in my life for like forever, y'know. How would I manage without him?"

Yusuke resisted the urge to roll his brown eyes. Genma had really done a number on Ranma's mentality during the years he had been training his son-turned-daughter, making her believe she needed him at all costs. That was probably all due to his twisted plan to mooch off of Ranma forever once he went through with marrying Akane, thus uniting the Saotome and Tendo schools!

"Meh. You'd soldier on, champ. After all you done swell without Lard-ass this past month eh," Yusuke said soothingly.

"Yeah! But that's only 'cause I had my mind set on surviving Granny's training, which was kinda lax in comparison to Pop's. Plus-," A red tinge appeared on Ranma's cheeks, "I had a pal with an ass just waitin' to be kicked once I got back here y'know."

Yusuke simply took out a box of cigarettes, put one cigarette in between his lips, put his cigarette box away, and then brought his lighter from his pocket which he used to light his cigarette, "Oh really? Who was that? Musta be one stable guy to keep you from goin' crazy, Red."

"You're a dummy."

"Huh?"

Yusuke peered at the miffed expression on Ranma's face and put the pieces together.

"Oh! You mean me!" Yusuke said with a startle, then let out a sheepish chuckle, "Haha. My bad, Red."

"Dummy."

"Only when you're around."

"What?"

"Yeah. You know they say beauty is the sun which blinds the dumb."

Yusuke easily lifted up his hand; a martial arts shoe clad foot now in his grip.

"Do you get a fix outta spraying cheese from your ass?!"

"Meh. Only if it's gonna get me some touchy-touchy," Yusuke grinned, letting his hand run up Ranma's smooth leg. There was no hair or spots on the redhead's leg; it felt really divine to be feeling up Ranma's leg, "Ace."

Ranma flinched, "You perv!" She wrestled her leg away from Yusuke and pouted in annoyance at the chuckling teenage boy, momentarily crossing her arms to turn away from Yusuke before continuing to eat her ice cream without saying another word to the rude-boy across from her.

It was only after a while did Ranma look back at Yusuke and with a look of uncertainty, making the cheeky boy give the redhead a probing look.

"Uhm. Yu-chan, I don't think you can sm-." Ranma began in an uncharacteristic timid tone of voice, her free index finger slowly, albeit shakily raising to point at the cancer-stick in Yusuke's hand.

Gosh Ranma felt as nervous as the day her father took her to the Tendo Dojo. Requesting someone of such high power to quit doing something he enjoyed in a place which appeared to prohibit that seemed to be the cause of Ranma's meekness.

Ranma didn't quite finish her sentence, but it was enough to catch Yusuke's attention; the half demon sitting up and trapping the red haired girl in an intense steely gaze.

'Boy, just lookin' into Yu-chan's eyes is almost enough to hypnotize a gal,' Ranma mused, staring at Yusuke as if seeing him for the first time. Just how could Yusuke do that, mesmerize her with those battle-hardened brown orbs of his alone? There was no doubt in Ranma's mind no girl could keep Yusuke whipped. If anything, he kept them in line.

Yusuke could tame Akane if he wanted to, Ranma would bet her life on it.

"Yes, dear, what's eating ya?" Ranma's legs almost turned to jelly.

That confidence of Yu-chan. Just how could he speak with such conviction despite openly addressing Ranma in such an affection manner?

Taking a quick glance at herself, Ranma pouted at her assets. Maybe that was why Yusuke's tone was so endearing, yet confident to Ranma in public for all to hear, because Ranma was in girl-form.

Yusuke had made it conspicuously clear that he found Ranma's girl form attractive, and unlike Kuno and his sister, who both foolishly believed boy-Ranma and girl-Ranma weren't the same person, Yusuke knew the boy-and-girl-Ranma were Ranma and still dug girl-Ranma nonetheless.

Throwing Pu in the mix just added a whole new set of butterflies in Ranma's stomach since she got knowledge of how deep Yusuke's feelings ran for her.

But being anti-social due to the number of years of being isolated of social interaction from her own pops, Ranma wasn't ready to tackle that subject yet.

"Yo, you in there, Red?"

Wonderful. Ranma spent so long musing of Yusuke and his confidence she forgot to confirm the fact he shouldn't really be smoking in the ice parlour.

How will she do that?

Yusuke wasn't Akane by any means. Akane was an ant next to Yusuke and so was Ranma. If he got mad and decided to take out his frustrations on Ranma, he could seriously hurt Ranma as much as that pained Ranma to admit; Yusuke's strength and power massively outclassed hers.

"W-Well you shouldna be puffin' in here," Ranma clarified quietly, causing Yusuke to blink his eyes in confusion before he looked around the Ice parlour. He noticed the uncomfortable postures of the other customers and the cashier that had served Ranma her ice cream.

How he understood.

Yusuke smiled, using his thumb to put out his cigarette to the relief of those around them, "Ah, I see now, shoulda just said so, dear," Ranma could feel the strength in her knees drain away. Damn him. Damn him and his overwhelming amount of confidence.

"Woulda saved a lot of time in the bud, ya know?" Yusuke asked, but the small nod of Ranma's head left him unconvinced she was okay, so he reached his right hand over to hers, and laid it atop of hers in a comforting manner, much to Ranma's shock as she gasped, "You okay, Red?"

"I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I," Ranma stammered, not sure what to say at this point. She had never been a speaker, more of an actionist, someone who lets their fists do the talking.

Ranma had been speechless after first meeting Kuno when the kendo-warrior made his dramatic introduction and gaped like a fish to match his, fully grateful to Kuno when he attacked him, thus putting Ranma back into his comfort zone.

Fighting.

It was all Genma had been good for, teaching his child how to fight.

But how to hold up a decent conversation with the opposite sex was not on Genma's list of things to teach Ranma.

End result – Ranma and Akane could potentially make drama out of a _really simple _situation that could be resolved with something as simple as a few words.

'Damn ya! Damn ya, Yu-chan! Damn ya to hell!' Ranma stressed mentally, but on the outside she was as shy as a cat, 'Just how can he be like that in front of an… audience?! Damn…'

"Red?" Yusuke tried again in a soft tone, slightly tightening the hold he had on Ranma's free hand.

"A-Ah, u-uhm, it's nuthin Yu-chan!" Ranma said hastily, pulling her hand away from Yusuke who coolly folded his arms over his chest, "I-I just had a question to ask you is all."

"Fire away, Red," Yusuke accepted.

Ranma took a deep breath, "Do you find it easy to be a guy, Yu-chan?"

Confusion drowned on Yusuke's features, "Say what?"

"I said… do you-."

"Yeah, I hear ya, honey, just stallin is all," Yusuke admitted with a hand raised up in frustration and Ranma fidgeted in place, "Oh yippy, I guess Lard-ass' constant pressure of you being a man among men finally got to ya, huh?" Ranma just got shrugged and waited patiently for Yusuke's answer.

"Well for me personally it's always been a breeze to be a guy, even when I was fourteen. I don't believe there was a day when I was a squirt when I didn't think I was all a grown up of masculinity," Yusuke answered truthfully, a clattering sound rang out through the air, making Yusuke look to see that Ranma had let go of her spoon and allowed it to hit the edge of her empty ice cream cup.

"Figures," Ranma mumbled, "So it's just me, eh?"

"What is?" Yusuke asked.

Ranma shook her head, "Forget it." Ranma stood up and grabbed her empty ice cream cup, "Forget I said anything. Okay?"

"Fuck no," Yusuke stood up and ensnared Ranma's free wrist in a tight grip, which made Ranma grit her teeth in exasperation because she knew she couldn't break it, "You've gotta let whatever's on your chest off, otherwise it'll just build up until you're ready to erupt like a volcano."

Ranma looked at Yusuke with surprise written all over her face. Nobody had ever cared to listen to what she wanted to say. Her own pops seemed content for her to go along with whatever scheme he had cooking up for them without her thinking her life over.

"Red?"

"Sorry," Ranma excused herself, "It's just that no one around here really lets me open my trap, and actually pays attention to what I have to say."

"I'm all ears," Yusuke said, "Lay it on me."

Ranma nodded slowly, taking in another deep breath, "I guess what I meant to get off of my chest is bein' a girl requires no expectation from pops, y'know."

Ranma looked at Yusuke to see if the half demon understood, but Yusuke only pursued his lips and rolled his free wrist in a clueless manner.

"Y'know, being all macho, marrying a tomboy, and having a no-bullshit attitude; the works," Ranma explained.

"Oh. I think I got my ticket now," Yusuke grumbled, shrugging, "So what? Don't you like being a fake badass?"

"Shaddup!" Ranma commanded and Yusuke zipped his lips shut, "It's not that I don't like being all macho, and slamming my foot up _most _guys' asses, it's just that as a gal it's so much more simple cracking jokes, smiling, and being cheerful," Ranma said, hanging her head with a forlorn air around her, "Almost like, like, like, like-."

"Like the world ain't on your shoulders?"

"'Xactly."

"So what point are you trying to make here, Red, that you prefer to roll gal?" Yusuke asked.

"Dunno," Ranma confessed, "But it does feel like I'm flying on cloud nine when I'm a gal. I can even get stuff for free when I'm a gal," From the impressed look on Yusuke's features, Ranma couldn't resist going for the kill, "Here I'll show you."

Yusuke loosened his grip on Ranma's arm and watched the girl saunter over to the counter where the guy was waiting to serve a customer. Ranma's posture became rather kittenish and the guy became flustered with a bright red blush and a smile on his face before he took Ranma's cup away from her.

The man gave Ranma a bigger cup with a mixture of banana and strawberry ice cream with a cherry on top, three scoops of strawberry and three of banana.

He then waved her off with a dreamy smile on his face.

"Ha. You made him your bitch!" Yusuke laughed while a victorious Ranma sat down with her new ice cream and drove into it right away.

"Works like a charm every time," Ranma said contently.

"I can see why that happens," Yusuke deadpanned, eyeing the guy who served Ranma free ice cream with a hardened look, "I bet I can get free ice cream too."

Ranma looked up at Yusuke, "Be my guest."

"Righto," Yusuke said coolly, stabbing his hands into his pockets and walking over to the starstruck man.

"I wonder how'll Yu-chan convince that lame-brain to give him free ice cream," Ranma pondered to herself as she shoved a mouthful of ice cream in her mouth. She gained a curious expression at the look of fear which appeared on the cashier's face as he held his hands up in a placating manner, "What's going on over there?"

Looking at Yusuke, Ranma could tell his posture spoke of a threatening one before he was handed something from the till.

A cocky, snickering Yusuke came strolling back up to Ranma and sat down across from her.

"What'd you d-."

"Ah," Yusuke cut the redheaded girl off, "Wait for the fireworks to begin."

Ranma shrugged, "Whatever you say."

An alarm soon sounded out, followed by a red light which startled most of the customers in the ice parlour, all except one half demon. Ranma looked to see Yusuke with his arms folded behind his head and a cocky grin on his face.

She lipped the words, "This is your doing?" But he only gave her an innocent look before several employees rushed from the back room carrying a huge brown boat with a ton of ice cream on it over to Ranma and Yusuke.

They dropped the mini boat load of ice cream in front of a gawking Ranma who quickly lifted up her own one to avoid it getting squished, "Oh snap."

"Enjoy your ice cream," The same cashier who gave Ranma her free ice cream in the first place said quickly, reaching forward to take the one he gave to Ranma.

"Hey, I didn't say you could take that!" Yusuke said harshly, making the scared man retract his hand.

"S-Sorry, milord!" He said and ran off along with his follow employees.

Ranma gaped at Yusuke, "How'd you-?"

Yusuke winked at Ranma, wiggling his index finger, "Ah-ah-ah. A magician never reveals his tricks."

xXx

(Later)

xXx

"Seriously, how'd you swing that?" Ranma asked as she and Yusuke sauntered out of the ice cream parlour.

"My lips are sealed," Yusuke said, "Let's just say from now on whenever you go in there just don't expect to pay."

Ranma shook her head with a dry grin, "Friends with benefit huh?"

Yusuke's grin turned lecherous, "Maybe we can make that lite-."

The sound of a bell ringing through the air cut off Yusuke.

"Aiyaa, Ranma!"

"Here we go again," Ranma groaned dryly, shutting her eyes as if preparing herself to take pain. In reality, she really was getting ready to tank pain. It happened every time she heard the sound of that bell followed by her name; a thunderous pain would come crashing down on her face.

Only this time it never came.

Opening her left eye a touch, Ranma sputtered in surprise at the sight of a bike wheel trapped in a tanned hand just above her face, "Yu-chan?" Ranma turned her head to see Yusuke with his arm stretched over and held above her head to keep the bike wheel from landing on her face.

"Aiyaa! What stupid boy doing?" Shampoo asked, surprised how this strange boy could keep her held up in the air as if her and her bike weighed nothing.

Shampoo had long blue hair which fell to her mid back, two buns styled on her head and kept that way by two hair ribbons, and two strands of her hair hung at her sides. She wore a pink Chinese-styled blouse matched by pink Chinese-styled pants, and Chinese-styled shoes on her feet.

It was clear she was out making a delivery run since she had a package neatly wrapped up in the basket on her bicycle.

"I could ask you the same question, lady," Yusuke responded darkly, "I was just making sure Ranma-chan's face weren't used as a ram. What the fuck was you doing?" Unknown to Yusuke, a bright blush appeared on Ranma's face.

Just how many more times was Yusuke going to keep her from harm?

Before Shampoo could answer, however, she felt her whole body begin to tremble. Her hands immediately gripped the pedals of her bike as if it would help keep her balance, "What you doing?" Shampoo asked Yusuke who was trying to shake her off of her bike.

He soon succeeded as Shampoo wobbled off of her bike and fell to the ground with a, "oaf!"

"That hurt!" Shampoo said, rubbing her backside. She then blinked and widened her eyes when she remembered the package she had in her basket, but as she looked up, she saw Yusuke digging into a steaming hot bowl of ramen with a confused Ranma standing by his side; Shampoo's bike nowhere to be seen.

"Aiyaa! That not for stupid strong boy! It customer meal! Give back!" Shampoo panicked, trying to grab the bowl off of Yusuke, but the cheeky boy merely dodged Shampoo by simply stepping to the side and leaving his leg out for Shampoo to trip over.

"Ouch!"

"This is the first I'm hearing about it," Yusuke quoted, stuffing more noodles in his mouth with the chopsticks he found inside of the package, "You should really put nametags on these things."

Shampoo glared at Yusuke and rubbed her backside before standing up, "You pay for that. Great grandmother be mad at Shampoo."

"Sorry," Yusuke said, sounding very unapologetic as he slurped up the last bit of ramen with a content grin on his face, "But I'm skint. But hey, since you seem to know Ranma, I figured you could cut a guy some slack, eh," Yusuke burped, "Ah. That hit the spot."

Shampoo pouted at Yusuke, then looked at girl-Ranma, wishing she had some hot water to dump on the redhead so she could get her sexy fiancé, "What Ranma to you?"

Yusuke blinked at the girl's messed up grammar, "Uhmmmm. A friend, I guess."

Ranma, seizing her chance to rid herself of another fiancé, hooked her arm around Yusuke's, making her eyes glow in a sparkling radiance of cuteness, "Oh don't be so shy, Yu-chan!"

"I ain't," Yusuke deadpanned while Shampoo looked on in confusion.

"Ignore this one, Shamps," Ranma said to Shampoo, rubbing her head against Yusuke's arm to Shampoo's ever growing jealously, "It's just so darn hard to get him to open up and be all lovey-dovey to me out in the open y'know?"

"What?" Both Shampoo and Yusuke exclaimed, with Shampoo gawking.

"Well at least Yu-chan brought me ice cream and fed it to me like the gentleman he is," Ranma giggled, smirking internally at the horrified look on Shampoo's features, 'Sucker! This is too easy. Snap, I should get an award for all this acting!'

"Look lady, I know your game! And I ain't playing it! I've already got one nutter after my tail, I don't need another one!" Yusuke ranted.

"Oh really, you even won't help lil old me for a feel," Ranma said deviously, putting on her best seductive tone as she held Yusuke's arm in between her breasts.

"Fuck my life!"

Ranma giggled, "You see how well we get along, Shamps, almost like two peas in a pond. Wouldn't you say, sweetie-pie?"

"I dunno this lady," Yusuke said to an open-mouthed Shampoo.

"Nooooooooo!" Shampoo eventually lost it, "Aiyaa! No way Shampoo let stupid strong-boy take Ranma-airen, ruin all hard work!"

'Bingo,' Ranma smirked internally, watching Shampoo pull out a sword from out of nowhere.

"Now wait just a goddamned minute lady, let's talk about this here," Yusuke tried none to gently, watching Shampoo close the distance between them at a very familiar level of speed, 'Well this won't be any fun. She can roll with Suzaku at best.' Yusuke mused, lifting up his arm; sparks flying between his arm and a metal blade as Shampoo smashed her sword against Yusuke's forearm.

"Aiyaa! How you do that?" Shampoo asked, pressing her sword against Yusuke's arm and gasping at the sight of no blood pouring from Yusuke's forearm despite the fact it just clashed with a sharpened blade a moment ago.

"Hmm. Jeez wiz I dunno, maybe 'cause I rose my arm up," The rude-boy answered and Shampoo growled.

"You no get smart with amazon warrior!" Shampoo declared resolutely, hopping back, but she ended up crashing into a solid brick wall, "Aiyaa. Stupid wall wasn't there a-." Shampoo gasped, having spun her head and found out the 'wall' she slammed into was really Yusuke, 'How he get behind Shampoo so quickly?'

Yusuke smirked at the awed expression on Shampoo's face, about to open his mouth to comment until…

"Shampoo, oh Shampoo!"

"Oh boy, now ducky's come out to play," Ranma quipped dryly, rolling her blue eyes.

A boy with long black hair reaching his mid back like Shampoo, and wearing a pair of thick glasses just above his eyes, ran through Yusuke as he ignorantly tried to hug the half demon but Yusuke was merely too fast for him, and he ended up running towards his 'one true love:' Shampoo.

"You stupid Mousse!" Shampoo chided, dropping kick the boy now known as Mousse back to Yusuke, who casually rebounded him back to Shampoo with a finger-poke, causing him to end up with his arms around Shampoo's neck, to Shampoo's dismay, "Aiyaa! Stupid Mousse ruin everything!"

Mousse blushed, sniffing Shampoo's hair, "Oh Shampoo, I'm so glad you finally decided to return my affection for you!"

"Hey, do I hear wedding bells, eh?" Yusuke taunted, Shampoo scowling at him.

"No, stupid, only have eyes for boy-Ranma!" Shampoo said.

"OOO. So you're lookin' to two-time your spouse already, eh? How dirty of you," Yusuke taunted gleefully, making Shampoo huff at him in frustration while confusion appeared on Mousse's face as he adjusted his glasses over his eyes and let go of Shampoo to turn around and get a better look at the voice he heard.

"Who are you?" Mousse asked.

"Red's partner," Yusuke deadpanned and pointed to girl-Ranma with his thumb, a confused Mousse tracking his thumb with his head.

"What?" Mousse gasped and then scowled, "How shameful! As if it wasn't enough for you to swoon my precious Shampoo, now you've gone and charmed a man! You're disgraceful Sao-." Mousse's words died in his throat; his sense of danger was screaming at him to run away, 'What? How'd he get in front of me so fast?'

"Your fight's with me!" Yusuke said seriously, a powerful glowing blue aura shrouding his body, an expression of amazement appearing on Ranma's, Shampoo's, and Mousse's faces.

"Shampoo not see anything like this," Shampoo confessed, a look of determination on her face, "But Shampoo amazon warrior. She no give up, let Indestructible-boy have Ranma to himself!" But before she could do anything, Yusuke simply disappeared, reappearing behind Mousse and Shampoo, spinning around and unleashing a devastating back chop to Shampoo's neck so hard she crashed into Mousse.

The two amazon warriors went tumbling away, before rolling to an unconscious heap next to a fountain.

"Whoa," Ranma said, impressed with how fast Yusuke knocked out both Shampoo and Mousse, more so Shampoo than Mousse since Shampoo was a girl and Mousse was a guy, meaning Ranma would've dealt with Mousse in little more than 10 seconds, but would've let herself been owned like a little bitch by Shampoo, "Someone has anger problems. Care to talk about them?"

"I think I'm all spent." Yusuke admitted.

"Along with the emergency supply," Ranma added and the two shared a joyous laugh.

It didn't last long as an uncomfortable silence fell upon the two, Ranma rubbing her arm and refusing to meet Yusuke's gaze while said boy just nonchalantly kept his hands in his pockets, idly stealing glances at the beautiful redhead girl and wondering what was on her mind.

Eventually the silence became too much for Ranma who looked at Yusuke and found the boy staring right back at her, "So…" Ranma began with clear uncertainty in her voice.

"Yeah." Yusuke waited patiently, his posture relaxed.

"How do you feel 'bout duking it out with Shamps?" Ranma asked.

"Whaddya mean?" Yusuke wondered in return.

Ranma became agitated, "Ugh! Y'know, 'bout fightin' a girl, dummy!"

"Oh. Is that what's bugging ya?" Yusuke said with a relieved breath.

Ranma was starting to get angry now, "What the hell do you mean is that's what's bugging me? You just mowed a girl down!"

Yusuke shrugged, "Yeah. So what?"

Ranma's jaw dropped, "So what?!"

"Quit being such a drama queen Red? Shampoo's a fighter, and the way I see it if a fighter challenges me then I'm gonna kick one's ass, regardless of rather he's a she or a he!"

Ranma was almost speechless, "B-But guys ain't meant to hit girls!"

"Oh yeah? How you figure?" Yusuke challenged with a deadpan look on his features.

"Cause girls are we-."

"I may I suggest you shut your trap and hold off on that info until you meet some real strong women," Yusuke suggested.

"Huh? Real strong women?" Ranma wondered with a confused look on her face.

Yusuke gave Ranma a hard look, one hard enough to make the girl flinch, "I dunno how Lard-ass has influenced your baby brain so badly, but I'm gonna laid on ya straight Red, there's gals who can go toe-to-toe with me every day, and have a good chance of whooping my ass."

Ranma was in debrief, "N-No w-way," Ranma shook her head, slowly taking a step back, "T-That's i-impossible."

Yusuke sped up to Ranma, grabbing the redhead by her throat with a furious expression on his face, "Ugh! What the hell is wrong with you, Red!? Has Fat-ass really fucked up your mentality so bad you can't even accept the fact there's women out there who can laid your ass out with both hands tied behind their backs, huh?!"

Ranma gritted her teeth, pushing her forehead against Yusuke's, "Well excuse me for having a chivalrous attitude, bub! I thought that was one positive thing I picked up for my damn self-training with my pops!"

"Stupid more like," Yusuke scoffed, making Ranma growl at him, "And whaddya do when Akane gets mad and leashes out at ya? Hmm. Lemme guess, stand there pleading for forgiveness like a little bitch, 'Akane, Akane'," Yusuke mocked, mimicking scared-Ranma's voice.

"You jerk!" Ranma raged, trying to pry Yusuke's hands from her throat but failed miserably, "And here I thought I actually found a friend in you!" Those words cut deep into Yusuke; deeper than any knife could; to the point where he found his hands loosening on Ranma's throat and his angry expression softening to show Ranma a look of remorse and regret.

"Look, Red, I didn-."

"Shove it!" Ranma seized her chance and bitch-slapped Yusuke's hands away from her throat, turning around and running away from Yusuke who made no attempt to stop her, "You've made yourself perfectly clear, douche!"

Yusuke slammed his hands on his hips as Ranma disappeared, "Well that coulda blown over better."

Okay, so perhaps Yusuke could've been more gentle with Ranma, after all he did know Ranma had a shoddy father who wouldn't think twice to force his son's/daughter's hand in marriage to a girl who'd the mentality of a seven year old girl.

But Yusuke really wanted his friend to see sense, that there was nothing wrong with fighting girls so long as they were warriors, and had a significant amount of reiki (spirit energy) to do battle against. Yusuke would never just fight anyone, and by anyone he meant people who didn't have a lick of reiki in them, boy or girl.

Yusuke feared for Ranma, he really did. Obviously fat-boy Genma had failed to inform his son/daughter it was alright to defend himself from girls, because Ranma was jst stupidly standing still and letting girls whale on him for no reason; just like today for example.

Ranma did nothing to warrant a bicycle wheel on his face from Shampoo, but she would've taken the blow anyway. For what Yusuke didn't know, and didn't want to know. Yusuke did not want Ranma to be any girl's punching bag.

Yusuke didn't know rather or not Ranma let herself be beaten on by females, but judging by her reaction Ranma was Akane's punching bag, something that completely miffed Yusuke out since he wasn't particularly fond of Akane and only put up with the youngest Tendo for Ryoga's sake.

No one should put their filthy hands on Ranma's skin. Just the thought of Ranma getting hurt was enough to send Yusuke over the edge, making him almost or just as angry as if Keiko herself had gotten hurt!

"Damn!" Yusuke snarled. He was beginning to get frustrated with himself now, as he didn't understand these feelings he was having for Ranma. They felt somehow similar to his ones for Keiko, but still different in a sense.

Why did Yusuke care if Ranma got hurt to such an extent? Why did he naturally prefer to Ranma as a girl instead of a boy? Yusuke knew Ranma was born a boy, but chose to block Ranma's guy side from his mind and concentrate solely on his girl-form, feeling part happy and part sad when Ranma confessed she found being a girl easier than being a guy.

Yusuke was happy because he liked thinking of Ranma as a girl and sad because Ranma was clearly having identity problems.

Ranma needed help.

"Me and my big flipping mouth. I gotta find her and apologize," Yusuke said.

"WHAT A HAUL! WHAT A HAUL!"

A dark look appeared on Yusuke's face.

"But first the garbage is need of removing."

XxX

(Elsewhere)

"Akane-chan!"

A badly injured Akane looked up from where she sat on a bed fit for patients in a small clinic at the sound of a distinctive squeaky voice to see her father burst through the door with tears in his eyes.

"Daddy," Akane murmured in an uncharacteristic timid tone of voice.

Akane's pride of a martial artist was in shatters knowing how injured she became just by receiving one bitch-slap in the face by the powerful Mr S, yet when he hit Ukyo, the girl was able to tank the blow with relative ease.

Being as arrogant as she was, the youngest Tendo spent most of the day trying to convince herself that Mr S had gone easy on Ukyo, but given her his hardest blow.

It failed miserably, because Mr S confirmed in a cold manner that the blows he gave the girls were of the same power, there was just a massive gulf between Ukyo's power, and Akane's.

And that really broke Akane since she knew Ranma's power was above all the martial artists who attended Furinkan High School. The rude boy/girl had proven so time and again with his victories over Kuno and Ukyo.

Akane had always considered herself Ranma's equal. After all Ranma had never defeated her before in battle and Ranma was smart enough to know when Akane got angry he had to stand still and let the youngest Tendo take out her frustrations on him.

But if Akane couldn't even compare to Ukyo, what chance did she have of comparing to Ranma?

Unless Mr S was lying, and he really did hold back a ton of his strength when he hit Ukyo.

Yes, that must be it. Akane wasn't that weak. She was a martial artist after all.

'I am just as strong as Ranma-idiot,' Akane mused arrogantly, a determined expression marking her face.

"Akane-dear," Soun cried, tears pouring down his eyes as he ran to his daughter's side and grabbed her hand, stroking her beautiful face. It broke the man's heart to see his pretty baby girl in such a condition. Saotome's son was meant to be there to protect her! Where was he!?

"I got here as soon as I could when I heard the news from Nabiki-dear," Soun continued. The aforementioned middle daughter nodded her head from where she stood near the wall with her arms coolly crossed over her chest; desperately trying to keep her cool with the hidden malevolence in the room.

"Really daddy, I'm fine," Akane insisted quietly, concern immediately coming to Soun's face as Akane winced and held her ribs, "I-It's n-nothing t-to worry about papa. Honest." Soun didn't look convinced and a bespectacled brown haired man tried to hide his emotions with a mask of professionalism as he stared at Akane and occasionally stole glances at the cause of young Akane's injury, fear evident in his eyes.

"Tell papa, Dr Tofu. Tell papa I'm fine," Akane pleaded, and the brown haired man now known as Dr Tofu, aka Akane's former crush, wanted to broke down into tears hearing the once fiery girl beg so demurely; with every second that passed Dr Tofu could feel his hatred for Mr Suraisa (Slicer) grow.

He only wished he'd the power to make the man leave, but Dr Tofu knew, for as skilful as he was in the martial arts, he was no match for the powerful Mr S, whose power level completely dwarfed his, to the point it felt like reiatsu was crushing Dr Tofu once Mr S walked in here harshly holding Akane on his shoulder.

Dr Tofu coughed into his hand, the attention now on him, "Ahm. Yes. I've given Akane here a scan. I fear her injuries are quite severe. She has three broken ribs, a swollen cheek, both of her legs are bruised severely, and her skull's rather sore." Dr Tofu said informatively, earning himself a cute half-hearted pout from Akane for telling her daddy all that.

"Oh Akane-dear!" Soun whimpered, falling to his knees, and burying his head on Akane's lap.

"Daddy, it's okay, I'm fine. Really," Akane insisted weakly, "Please don't cry, papa. I'll recover soon."

"Yes. Akane should recuperate in due time. Probably four or five months, give or take," Dr Tofu said.

Soun held up his head, sniffing, "Who could do such a thing to my lovely daughter?" Hesitance appeared on Akane's face and she shifted her head away from her papa, not wanting to tell him of the man who'd eradicated her and injured a huge majority of her bones with one simple backslap to her face.

"It was me." But unfortunately for Akane, Mr S had no such problems, which in return forced Akane to widen her eyes, and gasp in shock and fear, as if she had forgotten all about Mr S' presence.

Soun felt his blood run cold, as he slowly stood up, and turned around to face the voice, a little bit of anger appearing on his face, "Y-You did this to my lovely daughter, Akane-chan?"

Akane closed her eyes at the anger appearing in Mr S' eyes, "Don't make me repeat myself, worm."

Soun gritted his teeth, trying to keep his courage from leaving him in the face of such a scary man, "W-Why? W-Why would you do such a thing to my Akane-chan?"

"Because," Mr S reasoned partly.

"Because what lad?" Soun asked with a gulp.

"I can lure that Jusenkyo freak to me by attacking his precious 'Akane-chan'." Mr S explained, a smirk forming across his features, "You see? It's really quite simple when you think about it rationally."

Akane gasped, 'H-He must be talking about Ranma-idiot! B-But Ranma-idiot hasn't been in Nerima for a month now, we're not even together, we never have been!'

Quite freaky, Akane would admit she never had any feelings for the pigtailed martial artist, but she knew she'd to try, and force herself to like him because papa needed her to marry him to merge his school with Uncle Saotome's one.

Ranma couldn't do likewise and couldn't stop insulting her, or at least try, and taste her cooking.

Still Ranma and Akane had been forced to spend a lot of time together by their selfish parents, who inadvertently made Akane and Ranma develop a brotherly/sisterly rivalry relationship, so it went without saying Akane was missing her brother-sometimes-sister now that he/she no longer lived in the Tendo Dojo.

Tears poured down Soun's eyes, "So you attacked my dear Akane-chan to lure someone else here. How dare you! My Akane-chan didn't do anything to deserve such a punishment. You're a monster."

Mr S' smirk turned devilish, "Maybe you're right, but the question now is, what are you going to do about it, _daddy_?" Soun gulped, his legs turning to jelly, his heart beating a million miles a minute, and his skin turning cold. He wasn't expecting that. The man rattled his teeth together as Mr S focused his malevolence on him.

'Oh no, this isn't good. I fear Soun-san has little confidence to do battle against Suraisa-san!' Dr Tofu mused, a bead of sweat running down his face.

"Saotome! Saotome! Someone is here to see you!" Soun yelled out desperately, hoping his friend would quickly run in here to protect him.

Mr S smirked devilishly, while Akane and Dr Tofu both sighed.

Dr Tofu's fears of Mr S were momentarily forgotten once he heard that angelic voice speaking from outside.

"Oh my, Akane-imouto, father mentioned you were in the hospital. So I stopped by to drop you off some stuff," Big sister Kasumi's voice rang out from outside.

"Oh thank you, Kasumi-oneesama. You didn't have to, but I appreciate that," Akane said, smiling sheepishly as she saw Dr Tofu's glasses stream up and cover his eyes, his goofy persona in play as Kasumi-oneesama walked into the room, 'Honestly, why does Dr Tofu always have to act that way around Kasumi-oneesama?'

A look of determination appeared on Akane's face, 'I promise I'm going to help Dr Tofu get with Kasumi-oneesama.'

"K-Kasumi! What a pleasant surprise it is t-." But before Dr Tofu could start doing dumb stuff in a sad attempt to hide his childish crush on the eldest Tendo, Mr S appeared in front of him in a show of speed.

"I do not believe it is professional for a doctor to act in such a way while he is tending to his injured patient," Mr S explained in an eerily sensible manner, sending chills up Dr Tofu's spine who instantly snapped out of his Kasumi-induced stupor, staring up at Mr S with clear fear in his eyes, "Wouldn't you agree… Doc?"

"Y-Yes," Dr Tofu said after a while, dipping into a small bow, "Please forgive me for my show of indignity, it shall not happen again. If anything happens to Akane I wouldn't be able to forgive myself," Akane glared hard at Mr S for interrupting Dr Tofu's moment with her precious big sister as Dr Tofu offered her more meds, to which she declined.

"Oh my, Dr Tofu's acting normal for once," Kasumi said in surprise and Dr Tofu winced at the object of his affections calling him out on his antics.

"Yes, well, he is a doctor, as such he needs to remain focused at one hundred percent proficiency consistently, if he wants to keep his patients alive," Mr S said emotionlessly, a bead of sweat running down Kasumi's cheek as she gulped at the man's merciless way of forcing Dr Tofu to act normal around her.

Kasumi had always liked Dr Tofu as a friend, but disliked the way the man acted around her. Kasumi had always liked older men, which was why she offered Akane as a scapegoat to Ranma to marry, because he was young and still very much immature.

Kasumi wanted someone who she could sit down with and have a mature conversation with, someone who she could spill her problems to, and would listen sensibly, and give her helpful advice.

With Dr Tofu Kasumi could never get that, and although it was nice he was acting normal around her for once Kasumi knew it was wrong to force him to.

"This way, sugar, she's in there!"

"Ukyo? What's she doing here?" Akane wondered while Kasumi walked over to her and laid a basket full of fruit down on her bed and another bag full of clothes on her bed rail.

"I requested Kuonji-san to find _the freak boy_ and bring him here," Mr S explained coldly, making Akane flinch.

"What do you want with Ranma?" Akane asked.

Ranma was really the only boy Akane could think of who had a Jusenkyo curse and would remotely care enough about her to stomp a mud-hole in the one who had hurt her. Sure Akane knew Musu, alias Mousse, had a Jusenkyo curse, but he didn't give a rat's rear end about her. His girl was Shampoo.

Ryoga might have cared for her like Mousse did for Shampoo, but he didn't have a Jusenkyo curse.

Did he?

No of course not.

Hearing Akane ask the devilish man what he wanted of Ranma put a small glimmer of hope in Soun's stomach and eyes, 'T-The l-lad! P-Perhaps h-he's come back to declare his love for my Akane! O-Oh how I've longed for this day! Thank you Yusuke-kun! Than-."

"Akane-chan!"

Ryoga's voice killed the hope in Soun and filled the selfish man with depression while Akane gasped and Mr smirked malevolently.

"I wasn't talking about the she-boy, girly," Mr S said devilishly, Akane whimpering and watching Ukyo run into the room followed by the lost-boy.

"You see. There's the jackass who hurt Ak-." Ukyo's words fell on deaf ears as Ryoga bum-rushed past her and headed straight for his injured angel.

"Akane-chan!" Ryoga ghosted to her side, Mr S' eyebrow raising in surprise as he felt Ryoga's power, "Oh dear Akane-chan, I'm so sorry I wasn't there to protect you." Ryoga fell to his knees, his hands falling on Akane's legs.

"Oh Ryoga-kun," Akane murmured, her hands softly massaging Ryoga's hair. Her heart was touched with how much passion and concern Ryoga showed for her well-being, "You don't have to worry about me, Ryoga-kun. I'm fine. Really I am. Honest."

Akane gasped once Ryoga rose his head up, shocked to see tears in the boy's eyes, "Dear Akane-chan," Ryoga was breaking down as his hands clasped Akane's waist, "I'm so sorry I wasn't there for you. I should've been there to protect you. How can you ever forgive me Akane-chan?"

"Ryoga-kun…" Akane whispered, her hands delicately grasping Ryoga's face, a blush lighting up the humble boy's face at his crush's touch as Akane raised his head and stared into his eyes, "I never knew you felt so strongly about keeping me safe Ryoga-kun."

Soun winced while a look of shame appeared on Dr Tofu's face.

'P-Please stop lad. My Akane's desired for Ranma. She's meant to have a moment with him!' Soun begged mentally. Truth be told his school and legacy would be carried on if Ryoga got with Akane and stayed with her until they were old enough to marry each other in the near future, but he wasn't a Saotome and thus wouldn't be able to merge his school with Genma's.

'I've been a fool. It was wrong of me to try and force Ranma and Akane together. I believe I owe the two an apologise.' Dr Tofu admitted to himself. Dr Tofu believed he was doing the right thing for Ranma and Akane's relationship when he cut off Ranma's legs, knowing Akane's sweet persona would come into play so Ranma could get home… until now. During the months he had known Ranma and Akane Dr Tofu had never seen them display such love for each other, on the contrary the two acted like siblings.

Akane and Ryoga acted like lovers.

"Dear Akane-chan, I'd give up my soul if it meant keeping you safe and sound," Ryoga said, making Akane smile dreamily at him, "I just wish I knew where the jerk who hurt you was, so I could teach him a lesson he'd never forget!" Akane softly brushed the bangs of Ryoga's hair out of his eyes, meekly holding the lost boy's head to her shoulder, "Akane-chan?"

Ukyo smirked. Ryoga was finally beginning to woo Akane which meant she had less competition for her Ranchan's heart. All she would need to do is point Ryoga in the direction of Akane's attacker, watch Ryoga take the guy to the cleaners, and scoop Akane off of her feet after all was said and done.

"Hey, freak-boy," Ryoga paused and Akane panicked as she watched Ryoga gently pull away from her embrace to look at Mr S.

"Who are you?" Ryoga asked curiously.

"Your girl's attacker," The smart-mouthed strict teacher told Ryoga.

Ryoga froze and Akane flinched, "Y-You were the one who attacked Akane?"

Mr S rolled his eyes, "Don't make me repeat myself, freak-boy."

"Y-You attacked Akane-chan," Ryoga murmured, his hair beginning to wave as his head lowered, his hands balling up into fists so tightly the veins in his arms became visible, "…Monster." Anger was beginning to envelop Ryoga to the highest calibre.

"Yes, I think we've established that already," Mr S said, gritting his teeth at the feel of Ryoga's power increasing, 'The freak boy's power is dangerously nearing upper B-class levels. The boss won't be pleased about this. I must kill him now.'

'Hmm. I didn't realize sugar was packing that much power in him. If I didn't know any better I would say he's nearly as strong as my Ranchan,' Ukyo evenly rationalized. As the established chef could feel the boy's anger just radiating off of him in shades, she could see the semblance of Ryoga's furious temper shrouding his body, making his hair stand on ends as if Ryoga had just gone Kaio-ken. Additionally, Ryoga's up-heaving power also had the effect of causing tremors throughout the small clinic of Dr Tofu.

"Ryoga-kun…" Akane murmured, completely amazed by the sheer magnitude of Ryoga's power. Was she wrong to be worried about a potential fight between Mr S and Ryoga?

XxX

(Outside)

On the outside those who were walking past Dr Tofu's clinic would've seen the roof blown clean off, followed by a bright red pillar of light that shot up to the sky, and roofed the sky apart.

"PREPARE TO DIE BASTARD!"

* * *

><p><strong>And that does it for this chapter, and hopefully I can start developing Akane's character somewhat; because let's be honest people Rumiko is... ugh. That woman is truly incompetent at developing her characters, or even just creating original characters. Akane and Ranma in particular really spoiled the manga for me. They shared an obnoxiously abusive, cliched relationship. Why the fuck would a woman want her female to be overshadowed to such an extent by her significant other? I can understand why Sakura-baby, from Naruto, is a shoddily written, generic female character of incompetency, because at the end of the day, she was written by a man. <strong>

**What was Rumiko's excuse?**

**...Uh. She always dreamt of being carried in the arms of a big, strapping lad? **

**Stupid. **

**Personally, I don't fucking dig pairings which involve two domineering "characters" (because we all know they weren't characters, they were robots fuelled on exaggerated emotions) because the characters in question will almost always be unhappy in their interactions. You can tell this was the case with the retard duo, Ranma and Akane. Ugh. Rumiko, that stupid woman, drove me up the wall with all the nonsensical arguments she put Akane and Ranma, more or less showing us that they have _NO trust _in each other, yet Rumiko till insisted on telling us they were in love? **

**Fuck off, you bitch.**

**Sorry, peeps, it's just I can't stand abuse in a relationship. It should not be exaggerated to the extent that it was in "Ranma 1/2". Exaggeration isn't funny, it's infuriating. I'm also not fond of the fact that the Ranma/Akane pairing turns Akane into the generic damsel-in-distress. Not cool, considering at the start of the series Akane hated men (or boys. Whatever.) save for Dr Tofu because she saw them as monsters who wanted to conform her to Kasumi's role; a generic housewife. Yet Ranma, Mr generic tough guy, rolls in and makes her want to be Kasumi in order to be with him.**

**No. No. That's terrible fucking writing. Akane was a martial artist. She should not have to accommodate for a fucking impudent sexist clod who frequently looked down on her martial skill, (which she had great pride in, mind you). She should find her own role. Standard. Fuck male-Ranma. Fuck that douchebag to the ninth degree of fucking hell.**

**I have nothing nice to say about the other robotic-characters, barring my favourites, Ukyo and Ryoga, who ironically want on to spawn my other favourite anime characters from Rumiko's far superior manga, Inuyasha. Those are Sango and Koga. I find these four characters endearing enough to give them a mention on my profile as four of my favourite anime characters, so there's something positive about Rumiko, for ya.  
><strong>

**The other characters were just too selfishly obnoxious for my liking.**

**Tatewaki Kuno was a pretentious prick who should've died.**

**I found Principal Kuno offensive and just _painfully_ unfunny.**

**Genma was an ass and a terrible father on the level of Gendo Ikari from Neon Genesis Evangelion **

**Nabiki was... okay. She was clever enough to see the characters as a legion of cowardly morons who she could make a quick buck off of, smart girl. She can slide. Tho, I must say I didn't like that the main character was essentially her bitch, but then again Ranma-bitch was basically every girl's bitch. (That's what he gets for being sexist)**

**Shampoo. No, just... no. Too cold. I also wasn't fond of her stooping to poisoning Ranma's friends and landing on his fucking face with her bike.**

**Soun was a boring wimp.**

**Kasumi... ugh. Besides Flanders, she's the textbook definition of flanderization - nothing but a blank zombie powered by an unrealistic level of kindness. **

**Happosai's self-explanatory. The level of douchebaggery he displayed throughout the series is enough to make me forever despise him regardless of authors portraying him in a better light.  
><strong>

**Kodachi sucked... nuff said. **

**I don't care about Ukyo's fruity ass ninja-friend or Ryoga's plot device of a bird named Akari. (-_- - Really, Rumiko, you stupid bitch. What'd you take your fans for, huh? Idiots?)**

**Andddddd... That's pretty much it. My hatred of "Ranma 1/2" stems from the rampant stupidity and overall inhumane-tendencies of the cast. If you like the series, then hey, don't let me stop ya. I can't force feed my opinion down your throats. I prefer my series to have a little bit of character development and actual _humanized-characters_ I can relate to and admire. **

**Rant over, going back to Getbackers.**


	8. I'm No Weakling

**Disclaimer: I don't own YuYu Hakusho or Ranma 1/2**

**Y'know, I've been having a discussion with friends regarding the power scaling system, so I've decided to alter it slightly. So this is it now. **

**20% Ranma - Upper B class - D****estructive power - ****Town level plus - D****urability - ****City Block - Once when Ranma was disguised as Ryoga's little sister he admitted his body could not withstand the beating Ryoga was giving him. Not gonna lie that was fucking hilarious. Ranma-chan got spanked.**

**Kuno - Middle B class - **** Destructive power - ****City Block - Speed - Hypersonic. That was an episode where Kuno lost his memory, (episode 121). He** **was found by Ranma and Akane who brought him back to the Tendo Dojo where it was revealed he'd lost his memory. Anyway, long story short Ranma attempts to trigger Kuno's memory by throwing watermelons at him because he had a watermelon on his head when he washed up on shore.**

**Oh my days, Kuno just went badass and eradicated these small huts by releasing wind hurricanes from his sword. He even blew away Ranma, tore off Ranma's shirt, caught Ranma off guard with his speed to get in front** **of Ranma and put his sword to Ranma's neck. **

**Yo. People. Kuno's moving up in the world.**

**Shampoo - High C class - D****estructive power - L****arge Building - Speed - Hypersonic plus **

**Ukyo - High C class - ****destructive power - L****arge Building - Speed - Hypersonic**

**Mousse - Middle C - Destructive power - Boulder level (Doesn't really focus on destruction, relies more on skill.) Speed - Hypersonic plus.**

**Akane - Middle D class - Destructive power - Wall level - Speed - Peak Human **

**Y'know now that I thinks about it in terms of pure martial arts ability Ranma actually has Yusuke far outclassed. Yusuke, I love the guy, (no homo), but he ain't the sharpest knife in the drawer. He prefers to simply overpower his opponents than out-skilling them. **

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 8 <strong>

**I'm No Weakling!**

Mouths were open in gawks at the sight and the feel of such a ferocious and overwhelming power, arms thrown up to cover foreheads, gusty winds created by the aura threatened to knock everyone off of their feet. Soun was forced to cover his whole body across a highly worried Akane's bed to keep her and the bed from tipping over.

Dr Tofu, acting on instinct, sped over to his crush, quickly ensnarling her shoulders with his hands to keep her from falling over from Ryoga's subconsciously releasing his mass amount of ki. He might have fallen into dreamland from getting to touch Akane's Kasumi-oneesama if he wasn't stuck in a stupor from feeling Ryoga's power.

It was so high even Kasumi could sense it!

'Incredible! I've only ever felt Ki this high from Saotome-san and Ranma! Hibiki-san's truly must be something else,' Dr Tofu mused, eyes never leaving the glowing form of Ryoga, 'To think, he powered up this much all because of Akane,' Dr Tofu sighed, more from reluctant acceptance of having to clean up his patient room than anything else.

Dr Tofu turned his head to look a dumbstruck Akane, 'Akane, I know you're young, and I know you haven't always had the best of luck with the,' Dr Tofu coughed mentally, '-…With the opposite sex, but I hope you realize you'd have something wonderful with Hibiki-kun.'

"I'm gonna show you hell!" Ryoga growled, snapping everyone out of their Ryoga's-an-OP'd-dude-induced stupors, their eyes wide at the crimson red shrouded lost-boy, the raven-haired boy's eyes were no longer seen; just red vengeful pupliess sclera.

'Damn! The freak-boy's power! How'd he get so strong? His power was not calculated to be this high! My scanners cannot even read it!' Mr S thought exasperatedly, gnashing his teeth as Ryoga's aura forced him back a bit.

"Don't make me laugh freak-boy! You're just a human! What makes you think you can beat me?" Mr S shouted. There was just the faintest amount of desperation in Mr S' angry filled voice; almost as if he was trying to convince himself instead of Ryoga.

Ukyo narrowed her eyes, 'There it is again. What does this jackass mean by sugar's just a 'human?' After I slammed my spatula in the jackass's back he quoted if he were a mere human he would've been taken out.' Ukyo contemplated, 'Hmm. Who would create such a thing? Whatever jackass created this jackass has to have knowledge of Jusenkyo in some way, shape, or form. I mean, why else would this jackass know about Ryoga's curse.'

Ryoga spat, the saliva colliding with the floor and made the tiniest puddle, "Yeah, yeah, you can keep telling yourself that, jerk!" Mr S glared hard at Ryoga, growling and cracking his knuckles in anticipation for his fight with Ryoga, "Tch. It's time to put my training to the test! I'll make you pay for what you did to Akane-chan!"

Ryoga's challenging words were enough to snap the youngest Tendo out of her stupor, and she wrestled to jump off of the bed to stop Ryoga from fighting Mr S, but her father grabbed her by the waist and struggled to keep her on the bed; he didn't want to hurt his baby girl after all.

"Ryoga-kun, don't!" Akane pleaded, struggling to get Soun off of her, "Don't fight him for me! I'm not worth it! Please!"

"Don't worry, Akane-chan, I've got this," Ryoga coolly assured his crush, his heart almost breaking as his ears picked up Akane's whimpers, "I'm stronger now, he ain't no match for me!"

"Fool! Don't make me laugh!" Mr S said as if he had heard the world's worst joke ever, "You, freak-boy, are making me very angry, I don't like having to repeat myself, but I'll make one last exception for a dead freak walking! You. Are. A. Mere. Human! You can't defeat me! The very notion is inconceivable."

"Why don't you shut up?" Ryoga scoffed, making Mr S kiss his teeth, "Since you don't like repeating yourself and all," Ryoga rationalized calmly, "No matter what you say, I'm still gonna kill you for what you did to Akane-chan. So prepare to die asshole."

"I see," Mr S said in acceptance, closing his eyes, "I was hoping for this to be a quick kill. I have other freaks to massacre after all."

"I lemme guess, the Jusenkyo Preservation Society sent you out to kill me, Saotome, Shampoo, and Mousse eh," Ryoga surmised dryly, gritting his teeth in frustration once he heard Akane gasp, knowing he really should learn to keep his mouth shut.

The reactions of the others varied from Akane's. Soun's was a look of realization and fear, fear that his good friend Saotome was in grave danger, Kasumi's was an earnest concern one, Dr Tofu's was a mix of realization and worry, being the wise man he was and all, and Ukyo's was one of curiosity.

'It's them; the Jusenkyo Preservation Society?! That's the messed up organization that kidnapped Uncle Saotome, Shampoo, and Mousse!' Akane mused, frowning, 'But why would they want to harm Ryoga-kun? He hasn't got a curse like the others. Argh! I wish I knew what was going on.'

Mr S snickered devilishly, "How right you are Mr Hibiki. It's our duty to keep this world running smoothly, maintaining the balance. You see, you freaks disrupt that balance and peace we've worked so hard for, we simply cannot allow that," Mr S lectured, rising his arms in the air with a melodramatic air around him, "Now, we must purify this world of all the treacherous ones who jumped in the Jusenkyo ponds!"

Mr S threw off his glasses, showing everyone his glowing purple eyes, Soun gulping out of fear. This guy was almost as scary as the evil master, "You understand now? For the sake of the world you must die freak-boy!"

To Akane's horror, Mr S ran towards Ryoga at full pace

"Ryoga-kun, watch out! Please someone help him!" Akane begged.

It hurt Soun and Dr Tofu a lot to ignore Akane's pleas, but they knew Ryoga was their best chance of defeating Mr S. If he couldn't do it then no one else in that room at the present time could, and that was as true as the sky was blue and the grass was green.

Ryoga's chin tilted upwards, Mr S smacking his gloved fist into it knocked his head up and made Akane, Dr Tofu, Soun, and Kasumi flinch and Ukyo scowl.

'Ryoga, you jackass! Why didn't you dodge that?' Ukyo mused.

Mr S smirked, "I hope that gives you some insight on my power, freak-boy. I've already explained himself, so there's no need to explain myself again. You should just surrender and die with dignity, freak-boy."

"A-Are y-you okay, lad?" Soun asked shakily, carefully moving his head to look at the stricken Ryoga while still keeping a hold on his injured daughter to make sure she didn't jump off of the bed.

"Of course he's not okay, you fool!" Mr S shouted harshly, causing Soun to cringe and hug his daughter, who fumed at his cowardice, "I just hit him with my **Atomikku-ken (Atomic-fist). **Everything I hit with this beauty the damage is increased tenfold!" Mr S explained dramatically, scoffing and smirking at the gasps which came from the observers, "He's done for."

"Ryoga-kun," Akane wailed softly.

'Damn it sugar,' Ukyo mused, gnashing her teeth.

'Oh my, he's such a frightening man. Poor Ryoga-kun, he didn't deserve that. He was only trying to stand up for Akane-imouto,' Kasumi thought, hand on her mouth and a saddened look on her face, 'If only Urameshi-kun or Ranma-kun were here. Ryoga-kun wouldn't have to feel obligated to defend Akane-imouto's honour like this.'

Dr Tofu gritted his teeth and clenched his fists at the sight of Ryoga getting one-bombed in his chin, 'No, Hibiki-san, he's just a child,' A child that was far more powerful than him, but a child nonetheless, '-No older than Akane. How could this man-, no, monster, be so cruel?' Dr Tofu's face scrunched up in desperation, 'I will have to do something, the question now is, what?'

Mr S turned to Akane with a fiendish grin, causing Soun to flinch and whimper, "You see, little girl, freaks are nothing in the end. You'd do well to avoid them."

Seeing her friend brutalized much in the same way she had been left Akane shaken up, and when she got like that she usually fell back into her comfort zone: anger, "How could you do that to Ryoga-kun? Whatever has he done to you, you jerk?!"

"My, you're quite the pertinacious one, are you not?" Mr S said smoothly, removing his fist from Ryoga's chin, Ryoga's head still held up, "You will come to understand. The world's a better place without freaks like this one polluting it."

Akane pouted furiously, wishing she had more power so she could slam a hammer of some sort over Mr S' head. The jerk! He knew Ryoga wasn't any match for him! How could he be when Akane herself was brushed off so effortlessly? Sure Ryoga was powerful, but many of times had Ranma put the lost-boy in his place.

Akane classed herself in the same league as Ranma, so if she couldn't beat Mr S, by logic what chance did Ryoga have of beating him?

"You…" Akane seethed.

"Yes, I know, but there's really no need to thank me little girl. I was just doi-."

"You know, I would really appreciate it if you didn't speak about me like I wasn't here," The lost-boy spoke up, sounding unamused, his head lowering with a look of calm indifference.

Mr S was shocked, "How did you…?"

"Ryoga-kun!" Akane chirped, very much relieved and perplexed to see Ryoga okay, relieved because her friend wasn't dead, and confused because he tanked Mr S' supposedly strongest punch like it was nothing, 'How did Ryoga-kun take that blow so easily? He hasn't even got a scratch on him!'

"Ha. Perhaps you should try hitting harder, it usually works for me," Ryoga said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Mr S scowled, trying to school his emotions, "Be careful not to get full of myself, human," A small smirk came to Mr S' face, "That was just a warm up punch. You see I haven't used my Atomikku-ken in ages. I just needed to run through the kinks."

Akane gulped hearing that. She was injured badly just by receiving one blow by Mr S' regular hand, yet here he was clarifying that he hadn't used his more superior hand in a long time.

Just how powerful was Ryoga to tank that?

"Feel free to tell yourself that, it's still not going to save you from the beating I'm going to give you for what you did to Akane, asshole!" Ryoga assured, Akane still pleading with Ryoga to stop while Mr S scoffed.

"So you keep on saying freak-boy, but let's see you bring that to fruition!" Mr S said, launching another Atomikku-ken at Ryoga's face, much to Akane's horror.

"Ryoga!"

Right before Mr S' enhanced fist could connect with Ryoga's nose; the mad teacher got something chucked into his own face. The force equalled that of a wrecking ball flying directly into Mr S' face, forcing him to scream while he went spiralling away from the lost boy.

Akane and Kasumi instinctively closed their eyes at the eruption of the wall; the crazy inhuman teacher soaring out of it while shouting belligerently.

"Oh my!" Kasumi gasped, hand covering her mouth.

Ryoga had bitch-slapped Mr S out of the building much in the same way Mr S had backhanded Akane into the clinic.

Akane was in complete shock as her mouth was open in agape, 'How-. Wha-?' Her mind simply couldn't process what had happened, even when she replayed it over in her head. Ryoga had just bitch-slapped the man who had taken her down a peg like she was an ant beneath his feet.

"Now I'll finish this!" Ryoga declared. The lost-boy only saw a dark, menacing, glowing red light in the distance. For once Ryoga wasn't going to get lost on the way to his destination. He was determined, he was focused, and he had a lock on target.

Mr S was going down!

"Ryoga-kun, wait!" Akane begged, helplessly watching Ryoga jet out of the clinic like a moving car.

Ukyo smirked, 'Well I'm quite impressed sugar. I don't know what happened to you in this past month but you've really stepped up your game,' Ukyo's eyes held amusement in them, 'It's just like I've always been saying, Ryoga-sugar and Akane-sugar really do make a nice couple.'

"The Jusenkyo Preservation Society," Dr Tofu murmured thoughtfully, catching Kasumi's attention.

"Oh no, they're back! Saotome's in trouble! Where's Ranma-kun when you need him!" Soun wailed.

"Okay, hold up! I'm confused What is the Jusenkyo Preservation Society?" Ukyo asked.

"They're a secret organization devoted to keeping peace by making sure those who have fallen into the cursed springs of Jusenkyo don't misuse their curse forms. However, I fear their methods of going about this are rather… twisted to say the least," Dr Tofu explained informatively.

Ukyo turned to look at Akane who was trying to make sense out of things, "Yeah, I can see that. I wouldn't put it pass the jackasses to resort to kidnapping Ranchan and the others."

"Three months ago Uncle Saotome was taken away by a rather strange fellow, Ranma-chan had to go after him and save him, thereby rescuing the others in the progress," Kasumi spoke up demurely, Dr Tofu flinching as he realized Kasumi was standing right next to him all along.

Ukyo rolled her eyes, "Figures as much."

"Kasumi!" Dr Tofu squeaked, his glasses gleaming up, "What a pleasant surprise it is to see you! Would you like some tea! I'll get Betty to get you some!" Dr Tofu turned towards Ukyo, "Betty, would you be a dear and fetch Kasumi some tea!"

"I'm not your skeleton sugar," Ukyo said dryly, annoyed.

Kasumi smiled; although anyone who knew her on a personal level would know it was more than a little forced, "My, well thank you, Dr Tofu, but I'm afraid I'm not actually that thirsty."

"What's that Kasumi? You hear something? You would like a backrub? Oh Kasumi!" Dr Tofu enthused, shaking the skeleton excitedly like it was really Kasumi.

"I just don't get it!" Akane said exasperatedly.

"What don't you get sugar?" Ukyo asked.

"What would those creeps want with Ryoga-kun for?" Akane stressed, Ukyo remaining silence while Soun got a gleam in his eye. He knew if he told Ryoga's secret to Akane then Akane would be so furious she'd dump Ryoga, and would go running back into Ranma's arms.

It was the perfect plan!

Soun raised his hand and opened his mouth to speak, but immediately closed it with a pained look on his face as he gnashed his teeth to stop from screaming out; the screams being swapped for a long squeak.

Soun looked down to see a sandaled foot on his one before looking to his left and seeing Ukyo with a threatening look on her face, getting Soun to swallow hard before he winced at a message on Ukyo's hand...

*Make a scene and I'll kill you.* Translation: tell Akane about Ryoga's curse and you're a dead man.

A paled Soun nodded his head slowly, obviously having received the message loud and clear.

"Did you have something to say, papa?" Akane asked the whimpering Soun, "C'mon what do you think those jerks would want with Ryoga-kun? He hasn't done anything to warrant their attention!"

"I don't think you have anything to worry about there sugar," Ukyo lied, not wanting to give Akane any reason to not get with the lost-boy, "Why don't you wait for Ryoga to get back from thrashing that jackass around, eh." Ukyo suggested with a wink, Akane lowering her head with her fists clenched.

The stubborn-girl rose her head up with a hard look of resolution on her face.

"No!" Akane said firmly, surprising Ukyo, "I'm going to Ryoga-kun!"

"But Akane-dear," Soun tried.

"Don't try to stop me daddy, I have to get to Ryoga-kun. Who knows how long that fight will last with how angry Ryoga-kun is! He… he's even angrier at Mr S then he usually is when Ranma-idiot winds him up," A blush adorned Akane's face at that thought, 'He's doing all this for me.' Akane's face turned as red as a tomato.

Ryoga really did care for her.

"I don't think that's such a good idea. By the looks of it your body still needs time to recover after what that jackass put you through," Ukyo said.

"I'm not going to get myself involved! I'm just…" Akane stalled, "I just wanna be there for Ryoga-kun… please." Ukyo was caught off guard momentarily, before she crossed her arms over her chest stoically, "C'mon papa, please let me go. You can help me there if you want!"

"Oh Akane-dear," Soun said. His baby girl was putting him in a tight spot here. He could never find it in him to deny her, but he really didn't want to take her to a boy who was dangerously closing in on the capture of her heart. The thief of Akane's heart was meant to be Ranma-kun! Soun had everything planned out once the day came when Ranma and Akane would marry each other.

…Well. There's always Kasumi and Nabiki to marry off to Ranma.

Soun's dream of merging the Tendo School of Anything Goes Martial Arts with the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts would come to fruition no matter the cost! The price of Kasumi's and/or Nabiki's lives was little to achieve the end-all.

Soun would see his dream come true!

Even if that meant Soun would have to deal *gulp* (deal) with Urameshi-kun.

"Well I think Akane-imouto should go find Ryoga-kun," Kasumi said in defence of Akane and Akane smiled brightly.

"Thank you Kasumi-oneesama!" Akane said appreciatively.

"B-But Kasumi-dear, what about Dr Tofu! He hasn't said Akane-dear's free for discharge!" Soun said in a desperate attempt to conjure up an excuse to keep Akane away from Ryoga, eliciting a glare out of Ukyo.

Kasumi smiled, turning towards Dr Tofu who had put his skeleton on a free bed and was rubbing its fleshless body, "Oh Dr Tofu, would it be okay if Akane-imouto came home with us now!"

"Hmm? Of course, Kasumi! Here, let me just bandage her up!" Dr Tofu said hurriedly, grabbing some bandages and running over to what he thought was Akane, wrapping bandages around 'Akane''s head, "There you're cured!"

"Uhm, lad, I think you've got the wrong person," Soun explained in a calm tone of voice while having a bunch of bandages messily wrapped around his head.

The out of it Doctor looked at the Tendo patriarch with a confused expression on his face, "Huh?"

Akane giggled adorably, before looking out at the damaged wall.

'I'm coming Ryoga-kun, just wait for me.'

XxX

(Ryoga vs Mr S)

Pain.

Fear.

Desperation.

Three things the lunatic teacher never thought he would be acquainted with.

How wrong was he?

This boy, no, this freak of nature had made _him, him, fucking him, _one of the Jusenkyo Preservation Society's top men feel all of those foolish human emotions!

How dare him!?

How dare that damned criminal make him, Mr S, cry out in desperation while he felt himself bouncing off of the hard concrete ground after the criminal had whammed the back side of his fist or foot directly into Mr S' face or spine. Mr S was struggling to even fight back.

The devastating beating Ryoga was dishing out was fast and relentless.

Mr S had never fought a human so immensely powerful since the company's _one number_ guy offered him a sparring match to break Mr S in to which Mr S accepted, and was thoroughly toyed with by the powerful cursed man.

Mr S never thought he would find another human with the power equivalent of the boss' top dog.

Until now, that was.

"Not so nice to be the one on the receiving end of a beating, eh, asshole," Ryoga raged, spin kicking Mr S to the curb again.

Mr S pushed himself up onto his knee, glaring hatefully at Ryoga, "I'm becoming rather sick and tired of your mouth, _freak-boy!"_

Ryoga scoffed, "Then why don't you come do something about it, that is, unless you're scared of me," That slight mocking tone to Ryoga's voice really grinded on Mr S' last nerve.

"I'll show you! I won't lose to you! Not to a freak who disrupts the peace! This was not what I was built for! You hear me _human_! I will destroy you and preserve the balance!" Mr S was clearly losing it and Ryoga was loving it deep down, even if his outward expression didn't show it; it remained stoic and calm, like the wind.

'Hn. This must be how that jerk Saotome feels when I come at him raging, 'Saotome prepare to die',' Ryoga almost wanted to grin smugly at the thought, but he managed to resist. He couldn't wait to show Saotome how powerful he had become training under his teacher, Yusuke-sensei.

Mr S was burning up inside and outside by the lack of reaction by the lost-boy, "Don't ignore me you freak!" Mr S raised his gloved hand, gripping his wrist with his other one, "These are your final moments, don't you have anything to say?"

"Well, I would, but-."

"But what freak?"

"My mom said I shouldn't talk to myself. Sorry."

If Mr S was angry at being manhandled as if he were a ragdoll, his explosive temper shot way over 9000 at being declared already dead by a quote-on-quote walking criminal.

"ARGH! HUMAN!" Mr S raged, ripping the glove off of his hand to reveal a shiny bluish-purple robotic-looking hand that began a slow, but steady rotation before gradually picking up pace, "I will teach you to respect your betters, puny human!" At this point the spinning rotation of Mr S' (formerly) gloved right hand had gathered so much speed it literally resembled a shiny blue tornado, Mr S grinning evilly as he straightened his right arm outward as if it were a gun at the lost-boy, "Hmph. This shall finish you. No one has ever survived a shot of my **Kami no Bachi: Kono Sekai Kara Subete no Jaakuna Mono-Tachi o Tsuihō (God's Punishment: Banish All Evil Ones From This World)**!"

The twisting mini hurricane that was Mr S' hand solidified into a hardened spherical-sized dome of Ki, Mr S snickering fiendishly as it grew in size.

Mr S' snickering was brought to an abrupt halt as Ryoga speedily blurred in front of him and entrapped his death godly ball of righteous destruction with his left hand, "Ha! You think I'm gonna let you fire off such a huge concentrated ball of ki!? No way!"

"Human," Mr S seethed darkly, desperately trying to pull his hand free of Ryoga's grip, but the lost-boy held a strong vice-lock grip on his hand, tightening it every second with the intent of crushing Mr S' signature attack along with his attack, "Fool! Let go!" Mr S commanded, noticing Ryoga gnashing his teeth and hot stream flowed upwards from Mr S' trapped fist and through the gaps in between Ryoga's fingers.

"Ha! Not a chance!" Ryoga declared stubbornly, 'Damn! What the hell's up with this guy's attack! It's burning my hand!' Despite the pain, Ryoga pressed on, eradicating Mr S' God divine punishment attack along with Mr S' right robotic hand in a shower of sickly black blood.

"Aaaaaaah! What have you done!?" Mr S screamed in agony.

"Now you're finish!" Ryoga stated.

Mr S took a comprehensive triple hotel-luxury blow, Ryoga's arm shaped in a V-styled buried in Mr S' thorax!

The uppercut lifted Mr S straight into the air with black blood flying from his mouth. As for Ryoga, he aggressively powered forward, then using his powerful legs, set off like a rocket shooting up to the moon, a fierce, furious expression on the lost-boy's face.

Mr S felt like his lungs were going to burst out with all the screaming he was doing as Ryoga whaled him with a straight forward classic punch in the gut.

Imprisoning Mr S' head in a _Godzilla-_grip, Ryoga scanned the area of Nerima from a bird-eye view for a safe place to throw Mr S, one isolated of civilians so no one would get injured in the crossfire.

Ryoga found a deserted spot. It was the one right next to the canal and that _fence; _the very same fence Saotome easily ambled on as if he were taking a stroll in the park.

'Just you wait, _Saotome_, Cause you're next!' Ryoga vowed, hurling Mr S towards the fence near the canal with such force flames of heat shrouded the man's form. The artificially created madman shouted desperately, with the wind ferociously slamming into his face.

**BAMM! **

Landing outside of the canal, Mr S was forcibly blown into the ground from the shockwave which tore the fence from the ground, blew it away, cracked the surrounding houses, obliterated the walls of which separated by-passers from the people's houses, rid the street of lampposts, and stirred the water within the canal.

"…This ki-…" Mr S tried to say, coughing out blood, but an extremely sharpened heavy ton stone pillar of a rock-like object crashing into his stomach cut him off, forcing him to cry out.

Ryoga cursed his luck when the water from the canal rose up like a tidal wave. His falling knee drop on Mr S had environmental effects it seemed.

Wasting no time to get away from the water, Ryoga flipped up, booting Mr S down the street like a soccer ball, watching him bounce down the street with a grimace on his face before he disappeared from sight just as the water rained down.

As Mr S reached the end of the street he miraculously changed the course of his trajectory, so he could soar through the air with a wince and a grit of his teeth. Any high calibre warrior used to insane levels of speed would know a green clad fanged raven-haired boy had majestically appeared in front of the rolling Mr S, and spin kicked him in the air before taking off himself.

Ryoga arrowed himself directly to the soaring Mr S, and hit the bull-eye with his head in the form of Mr S' spine. Mr S wailed, saliva flying out of his mouth as Ryoga surveyed for another deserted spot to wrap up his fight with Mr S.

He found one. One he knew all too well. It was a park, though with the trees and bushes it could easily be passed off as a jungle in Ryoga's eyes.

Many of times had the lost-boy got himself lost in that park and couldn't find his way out for hours, days, or even weeks!

Not that it mattered now, he had a fight to finish. And currently, no one was in that park which meant no one would be caught in the crossfire of Ryoga's sheer annihilation of Mr S. Ryoga was sure after this, that park would no longer be called a park.

"This is it asshole! Say your prays!" Ryoga declared, his foot finishing up another appointment with Mr S' face to rearrange it; the crazed teacher spiralling out of control and heading on a one-way course on a not-so-pleasant trip to the park! "I won't let you get off that easy, jerk!"

Ryoga danced his way to the falling Mr S, stomping his feet onto Mr S' chest as if he were running on the spot (ground) before slamming his foot into Mr S' mouth, forcing Mr S' descent to increase with blood and a pair of front teeth going the opposite way from his mouth before joining him on his fall.

A tremor occurred, debris dust erupted, and a pair of trees was axed to the ground once Mr S landed in the park.

Ryoga held his arms out and stretched his head back, "Aaaaaarrrrggggghhhh!" Roaring, Ryoga dived downwards, his red aura of Ki circling powerfully around his body, lighting up the already clear blue sky in a blood red glow.

As Ryoga neared the park, he ignored the leaves of the trees hitting his face. He only had one thing on his mind, and he had him dead for rights by all means, as he slammed his body directly into his, the force creating a shockwave which mowed four more trees down and busted up Mr S even more.

Now on top of Mr S, Ryoga rose his fists and brought them down with thunderous force on Mr S' head.

"This is for Akane!"

Ryoga repeated his actions, this time shaking the entire park and bringing six more trees down to the ground.

"And this is for Akane!"

Another even more powerful double-hammer blow from the enraged lost-boy cratered the ground around him and fanned some of the leaves out of the park.

"And this is for Akane!"

Spider-cracks appeared all around Ryoga and Mr S as Ryoga's fists devastatingly connected with Mr S' chest.

"And this is for Akane!"

Dropping two more wrecking-ball style hits on Mr S' bloody smeared face caused more grass to shatter away, the area slowly turning into a lifeless wasteland.

"And this is for Akane, you bastard!"

This twin strike had even more juice pumped in them then the last ones combined. The ground opened up, sinking in and pushing the remaining trees off to the side.

"Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die!" And Ryoga's assault didn't stop, even know Mr S had long since lost consciousness even before Ryoga gave him his strongest hit. By now, the artificially made-man was probably dead, but try telling that to the pig-headed boy; the one continuing trying to turn a dead man's body into mush with his two fists alone.

Ryoga didn't know how long he was there, punching away at Mr S' motionless body, and he knew without a shadow of a doubt he wouldn't have stopped if It weren't for two angelic hands touching his shoulders, before slowly making their way to his cheeks. Somehow, he just knew it was his angel.

"Ryoga-kun."

Her gentle voice just reaffirmed his instincts.

"Akane-chan," Ryoga said in surprise, his angry crimson red aura slowly disappearing from his body. Slowly, he turned his head and in his eyes he saw a magnificent saintly rainbow-esque shining aura around his angel: Akane Tendo, the same girl of holy beauty who had been brought to Ryoga by her father who was off to the side looking nervously at the eradicated Mr S.

"I came…" Akane diverted her eyes from Ryoga and to the bloodied form of Mr S, who was spread out like a pancake, sparks of electricity appearing from Mr S' face as if he were short-circuiting, "I came to offer you my support," Akane sighed, "I guess you really didn't need me, huh?"

"Akane-chan," Ryoga murmured, standing up in time to catch Akane as the exhausted girl fell on his chest, "You shouldn't be here. Your injuries haven't healed up yet. What if you aggrieve them?"

"I know, Ryoga-kun! I just wanted to make sure you wouldn't cause too much damage to the town! I've seen how you get when fighting Ranma-idiot. You let loose and run at Ranma-idiot like a blind wild animal," Akane screeched, then cast her eyes down.

"I'm sorry, Akane-chan," Ryoga whispered, rubbing Akane's lower back while her hands rested comfortably on his muscled chest. It felt so good to be holding Akane. So good someone could kill the lost-boy right now, and he would still die happy, "It's just…" Ryoga's face tensed up, as Akane looked up at him, "That jerk made me so mad, attacking you like this! You didn't deserve that!"

"Oh Ryoga-kun I never knew," Akane spoke softly.

"If those jerks from Jusenkyo wanted a piece of me then they should've come straight to me instead of getting you involved, Akane-chan!" Ryoga raged.

"But Ryoga-kun, what would they want with you? I mean, you're not like Ranma-idiot, Uncle Saotome, Shampoo, or Mousse. Are you?" Akane asked in an innocent, sweet tone of voice, causing Ryoga to mentally panic staring into his crush's soft, questioning gaze.

'I just knew someday it would come to this. Ohhhhh! Why must my life be so tainted!?' Ryoga anguished.

Soun saw a golden opportunity to push Ryoga and Akane apart and send his baby girl running into Ranma's arms, "Lad," Soun began, reaching out and grabbing Ryoga's shoulder, who looked to be in a tight spot, "I believe it would be for the best if you came clean to my Akane-chan. Even if the truth could very well-," Soun gathered his words, "-be rather different for the two of you to deal with, I highly believe you two would stay good friends, lad."

Unfortunately, subtly was not Soun's specialty as Akane glared at him, making him wince, 'Quit trying to force me and Ranma-idiot together, daddy!' Akane screamed in her mind, showing the tiniest bit of resentment towards Soun through her enraged eyes, eliciting a tearful expression to appear on the Tendo patriarch's face.

"Akane-chan, I-."

A pair of fingers softly touching Ryoga's lips silenced his struggling confession.

"You don't have to tell me if you're not ready, Ryoga-kun," Akane promised with a bright smile.

Ryoga looked at her, dumbfounded, "W-What?"

Ryoga was expecting to tell her about the fact he had been P-chan all along, using his curse-form to his advantage to sleep in her bed, but here the beautiful girl had assured him that he didn't have to tell her his secret.

Before Ryoga's joy could completely erupt, a stern look appeared on Akane's face, "But you have to promise me mister that you'll tell me when you're ready! I'm serious, Ryoga-kun! I want to know why those people from China seem to want you as much as they want the others who have curses."

Ryoga still couldn't believe his luck! He had time! He had time to find a cure to his dreaded curse. Once he did that he could tell Akane about being P-chan and get on his hands and knees and beg for her righteous forgiveness! Oh what a happy day, not even the gods themselves could spoil the Hibiki-boy's day!

"Of course; anything for you, Akane-chan," Ryoga accepted, releasing a breath he did not know he was holding in, a true happy smile coming directly from the bottom of his heart forming across his face, a sight that was rather unusual on the usual miserable lost-boy.

"Good!" Akane smiled, then it turned shy as she diverted her eyes away from Ryoga's, "You know if we're going to make this work between us we have to eventually reveal all of our secrets to each other, y'know."

Soun took those words to heart, feeling as if someone had stabbed him ten times over while Ryoga froze.

"Y-You m-mean w-we like a… c-cou-," Ryoga attempted to say, but quickly got nervous, and when he got shy, he usually started laughing and doing things he didn't mean, "Hahahahahahaha!" Ryoga laughed creepily, stomping his foot into the ground without realizing it.

Akane giggled adorably, "Silly boy, what else could I have meant." Akane nuzzled her head against a starry-eyed Ryoga's chest.

This was it.

Ryoga was well and truly on cloud nine.

"Oh Akane-chan."

With that Ryoga tightened his grip around the youngest Tendo, the two enjoying the warmth of each other, the devastated Soun completely forgotten.

'Well… there's always Kasumi-dear and Nabiki-dear Ranma-kun could marry.'

xXx

(Earlier That Day)

"WHAT A HAUL! WHAT A HAUL!"

A delighted Happosai happily chanted with a green bag filled with bras and panties held behind his neck; a horde of angry women racing behind him all wielding broom-sticks, frying-pans, and other kitchen and household essentials they could get their hands on to beat the crap outta the perverted old man.

Happosai even had a pink lacy pair of panties wrapped around his face like a burglar.

"Give us back our underwear!"

"Ah. After this me thinks I should pay a visit to Ranma-baby," Happosai contemplated, a lecherous smirk forming across his face. This past month had almost driven the old man insane without his sex toy around him to feel up.

A cocky wolf-fanged grin flashed through Happosai's mind.

That_ damned_ brat!

If he had just minded his own business then Happosai wouldn't have been sent off to another country badly injured, and needed to recuperate. Sure it was fun and really pleasurable to be receiving sponge baths by pretty nurses who couldn't understand a lick of Japanese, not that it mattered since Happosai had been all around the world in his long life and learned all kinds of languages, but it just wasn't the same without getting a feel of their luscious breasts.

Damn brat!

He should've just stayed out of it. It had nothing to do with him.

'Hmph. I have something planned for you, fella, just you wait,' Happosai mused, his perverted smirk turning devilish, 'You'll come to respect the name Happosai-sama once I get finished with you, fell-.' The diminutive martial artist could think no more; the flat hard end of a rubbery surface which grinded on Happosai's head conspicuously resembled a clad foot.

The mob of angry women all stopped at the sight of Happosai's head buried in the ground.

"Who's that?"

"He stopped the old man!"

"He's cute!"

"I wonder if he has a girlfriend!"

"Check out his muscles, you could grind cheese on 'em!"

Yusuke ignored the ladies swooning over him and looked down at Happosai with a mask of impassiveness, "Been a long time, eh midget-geezer." His choice of words seemed to confuse the young women while the underside of his foot slowly started to shake.

Yusuke allowed his foot to rise into the air enough to see Happosai's scowling face, "You!"

"So nice to see you too," Yusuke grumbled sarcastically, "I'd go good cop, bad cop on your midget ass to find out what you're doing here, but it looks like you've been out raiding the women's clothes store," The older women of the mob scowled at the old man while the younger ones giggled sweetly at Yusuke's sense of humour.

"What do you expect fella? These bountiful beauties are to be added to my collection. I won't let you have 'em!" Happosai declared stubbornly, grimaces appearing on the faces of the women he stole from.

"Your collection, eh," Yusuke repeated darkly.

"That's right! These are mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine!" Happosai raved childishly, throwing a tantrum upon finding his burglar bag lifted off of his shoulders by Yusuke, "Hey! You gimme that back! It's mine! It's not fair for you to take 'em off of me! You gotta respect your elders!"

Yusuke scoffed before turning and chucking the bag at the mob of women in calm indifference, "Here you go, ladies."

A trio of older women caught the bag with their underwear in them while the schoolgirls fawned at Yusuke's coolness, "Thank you, sir!" They chorused.

"The name's Yusuke, Yusuke Urameshi, and don't mention it," Yusuke looked down at the furious Happosai with a malevolent smirk which promised hell-to-pay for the old man, "It was my pleasant."

The school girls giggled cutely, "Okay! You're the best Yusuke-kun/Urameshi-kun/Yusuke-chan/Yu-chan!" The young girls cheered simultaneously, with a few of them cheekily adding the 'chan' suffix onto his name. One in particular got Yusuke to flinch before a saddened look came to his face.

'Ranma,' Yusuke mused, 'I gotta apologize to her.' As the women and school girls disappeared, Yusuke let his foot slip from the head of the perverted master of Anything Goes Martial Arts in such an absentminded manner it appeared as if Yusuke was zoned out.

Happosai squeezed himself from underneath Yusuke's foot and looked up at him, smirking at the far-out look on the boy's face, 'Now's my chance!' Happosai ran through some hand-signs, turning his index finger pink before he leaped at Yusuke, "Take this brat!"

**CRACK!**

Happosai's finger was caught in between Yusuke's much larger index and middle fingers in a scissors-lock before Yusuke casually snapped the old man's finger as if it were chocolate, causing him to let out a babyish wail.

"Yeah. You probably shouldna alerted me with that last line. You mighta nailed me if ya hadn't. Just sayin," Yusuke said casually, not caring when he heard Happosai sniff, and gaze up at him with wet sparkling eyes.

"You really have no respect for me eh fella?" Happosai asked.

"Oh, is it that obvious?" Yusuke asked in return, a dry look on his face and he rolled his eyes, "Answer me this, midget-geezer? Why in the hell would I respect a shrivelled up smurf whose ninjas around and raids women's cribs for their underwear like fuckin Santa Clause bustin into people's houses to steal back presents?"

Happosai growled, "It's called collecting for your information you ungrateful brat! You have no love in your soul for crying out loud!"

Yusuke yawned, a listless expression on his face, "Yeah, yeah, keep yappin away, midget-geezer. I got better things to do then to be associating with a wrinkling bag of bullshitery, like for instance I coulda sworn I stepped on sumthin," Yusuke sniffed the air, his expression never changing, "Smells kinda _shitty_. Ya' know what that is, old fart."

Happosai scowled before tears came to his eyes, "You, You, You big meanie. Why must you look down on me? It's not fair!"

Happosai hacked up a mass amount of blood from Yusuke tremendously poking his index finger inside of his gut, "Sure. Sounds legit, eh, since we hooligans are known for harassing the senior citizens,"

Happosai scowled at Yusuke. He wasn't that old. He was still fresh enough to peek in on the pretty ladies taking a hot bath together, stealing women's lingerie, and of course groping their beautiful breasts, or just outright taking what he deserved from them.

Yusuke sent Happosai blasting off with a simple flick of his wrist, then he lazily lifted up his pinkie finger, a spherical-ball forming on the tip of his smallest finger. Dispassionately, Yusuke observed the orb on his finger enlarged in size until it resembled the size of a 40 inch plasma screen TV.

"**Reigan (Spirit Gun)**," Yusuke murmured expressionlessly, the orb of energy shooting out of his index finger and morphing into a long shiny blue stream with a fairly huge ball settled at the top. The spirit gun walloped the screaming Happosai and began to carry him away.

"CURSE YOU, BRAT! YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE LAST OF ME WHIPPERSNAPPER!" Happosai warned before he became no more but a mere sparkle in the sky.

"Don't remind me. Dunno why I even allow him assess to this realm of hardworking individuals," Yusuke sighed, tucking his hands into his pockets, locking his senses on a certain redhead, "Might have ta arrange a permanent sleepover with the fishes for midget-geezer If he keeps on buggin ladies like this."

Yusuke was momentarily brought out of his thoughts of what to do with Happosai (kill or not) by a tremor occurring a couple of blocks away.

"Ryo's having good time I take this. Heh. I have to get the details off of him later. Right now, I gotta get my knees ready, 'cause I have some serious making up to do."

XxX

(With Ranma)

"Damn him!" The enraged redhead ranted, spin-kicking a lamppost so hard she knocked it off the hinge, scaring several people who proceeded to back away from her, "Just who the hell does he think he is talking to me like that?"

Ranma grumpily kicked a pebble and sent it soaring away like a rocket, desperately trying to relieve the frustration she felt at having been in such a heated argument with the one guy she thought she had a real friendship with.

"Geez. He didn't have to spray it like that; the jerk," Ranma grumped, letting her feet carry her away from downtown.

Imaging Yu-chan's irritated face burned Ranma up inside, her temper flying through the roof even as part of her felt a slight depression coming on. However she ignored that to focus on her anger and disdain for the big-cheese around Japan.

"So what if I don't wanna hit girls, it ain't a crime not to! He didn't have to act like that!" Ranma continued to rant as she ran up to a tree and flying kicked it to the ground, aggressively stomping on it several more times until it was nothing more but a pile of splinters, "Take that and that and that you damn stack of paper!"

After releasing some of her exasperation on that poor, poor tree Ranma panted and finally surveyed where her feet had taken her. She vaguely remembered it as a bird-park she had come to with Akane to share a bag of burgers with.

Ranma wouldn't mind reliving such a day with the youngest Tendo, being the strong one and not so pathetically outclassed it wasn't even funny, but then being so powerful had it draw backs, like for instance Ranma couldn't get a decent challenge out of Akane whenever he would wind her up.

Ranma felt obligated just to stand around and let Akane take out her rage on him just to keep her coming since there was such a massive gulf in class between Ranma's power and Akane's, any attack Akane hit Ranma with just never had any effect on the rude-boy, unless she dislocated his bones of course.

Ranma had to wonder why he/she had even let Akane do such damage to his/her bones. Thinking about it Ranma didn't want to lose Akane, not in a romantic sense, but in a general companion sense.

Ranma spent too many years with himself/herself and his/her old man Genma, and in that time Ranma seen people his/her own age come and go.

It wasn't nice.

Naturally, Ranma would cling to any teenage his age in a desperate attempt to gain a real friendship.

"Whew! Lettin' off hot air sure is thirsty work," Ranma said, sounding a tad more cheerful but the worrying look in her eyes said she hadn't entirely rid herself of the demons hunting her. Regardless of that Ranma scanned the area for a fountain and found it on the other side of the park.

Ranma smirked, "Mighta well waltz on ta that thirst killer in style," That would show Mr Big he ain't the only one who has skill… wait. Hold up. Hold that call. Come to think of it Yu-chan hadn't really demonstrated great skill or grace in any of his spars/fights Ranma had seen and took part in against him. He simply mowed down all of his opponents with sheer power, including her.

"Hmph! The time I finish blitzin through Granny's cakewalk courses that dummy'll have to put all the elbow grease and effort in tryin' to see me dance around him let alone move if he even wants to last ten seconds against me! Hahahahahahaha!" Ranma guffawed arrogantly.

Ranma would show Yusuke she could be just as powerful and as formidable as him.

With that off of her chest Ranma huffed satisfyingly before eyeing a bench opposite to the fountain she wanted to drink out of.

Ranma rocketed herself towards the bench while leaving a zigzagging pattern of afterimages behind her. Upon reaching the bench, Ranma glued her foot to it and wasted no time propelling herself directly at the tree. Rotating her body around, Ranma was able to plant her foot on the side of the tree.

With her Super Saiyan-esque aura of confidence springing to life and blazing powerfully around her body, Ranma sprung herself at the fountain with more than a little force necessary if the axing of the tree behind her was any indication.

"Woops, sorry Mr tree, I kinda dunno my own strength y'know, but I guess ya can become a pile of paper sooner rather than later!" Ranma excused sheepishly, a cheerful expression on her face before a thoughtful look replaced it, "Boy, it's gonna be a real pain in the arse to avoid collapsing things to the ground once I've released these power-limit whatchamajigs Granny put on me."

Genkai had told Ranma she was still as powerful as her old teammate Toguro, even with the minimum amount of Ki she had available to her now, thanks to the spirit cuffs.

Not that it mattered to Ranma, because it didn't! That Toguro-guy may have been pretty powerful back then but Genkai bluntly stated Yusuke would eradicate him with a mere burp if he was still around.

Ranma could not take any-more pride in her power increase until she knew in her heart she could stand on the same elite plateau as Yu-chan. One way or the other he would acknowledge her strength in their spars, and take her seriously.

Once Ranma set her mind to something she normally doesn't fail.

After Ranma had elegantly landed on the ground, she nonchalantly dusted herself off, and dipped her head low, while raising her hand to the tap to switch it on.

The cold water hitting her throat was refreshing after the pent-up frustration had overheated her body, but as Ranma finished her fill and switched off the water, an semblance of a cocky fanged grin appeared on the surface of the fountain.

"Oh! Look at me, I'm Mr-Unstoppable so I have a license to make guys feel like crap!" Ranma mocked, purposely feigning Yusuke's voice in a half-assed way, before gripping the edge of the fountain so hard she broke off a piece, "Damn you, making me feel this way, you damn bastard!"

The anger left Ranma's eyes, leaving a soft yearning look as more semblances appeared on the surface of the fountain. Ones which brought back the anger, (Yusuke slapping Ranma's ass and poking her boob,) and one which struck out like a sore thumb, one which also intensified the yearning look in Ranma's eyes.

It replayed the moment of which Yusuke lay his hand on top of Ranma's.

"Rats! It's the curse! It is drivin' me nuts!" Ranma roared, pulling at her hair, "There's no way, there's no flippin' chance in hell that I can even remotely li-." Ranma wasn't even going to finish that sentence, "It's the curse, it has to be. Once I rid myself of it then this nightmare can be put behind me."

Then what?

"Then I'll get back to being the best!" Ranma snickered, trying to convince herself.

In Ranma's mind, it was all the curse's fault. These weird butterfly feelings she was getting whenever she was around Yu-chan, her comfort of being in girl-form, her deviousness to flirt with men to get free stuff, and her overall confusion. Everything!

After all Ranma was a guy, a guy was crying out loud! Guys weren't meant to like others guys. Ranma had never felt any personal attraction to any guy, including Yusuke! Point. Blank. Period! Never!

It's never gonna happen! No way, Jose!

Ranma huffed proudly, "As soon as I make enough money to make it back to China I'll be free of these damned problems!"

Now how was Ranma going to go about getting that money was other problem.

As she pondered this, a familiar voice spooked her, "Hey, baby-cakes, how's it 'goin?" The probably the last person Ranma would want to see but he was here and already up to his old tricks, forcing Ranma's rear-end to jiggle and her to squeak with a blush on her face as she held her hands on her butt.

"You perv!"

"Aw, don't blame me. I was just helping myself to a lil treat. We all gotta craving for one of 'em every now and then y'know," Yusuke grinned in a cheeky way at the fuming redhead girl. Begging weren't his style so he figured he would waltz up to her and wing it; easy as square equalled X.

See! Yusuke was smart!

He was smarter than that doofus Kuwabara that was for sure.

Ranma was shaking her fist, "Treat, eh?" She whirled around ferociously, fist readied to smash the cocky grin off of Yusuke's face, "Treat this!"

Yusuke merely sidestepped her, hands neatly in his pockets while Ranma fumbled and struggled to her regain her balance, "Treat what? My grandmamma hands out better treats than that love."

Ranma scowled, gritting her teeth as she turned her head to glare at Yusuke, "Oh yeah! Keep yappin' prince! Cause Imma shove 'em down your throat. So bad you'll be beggin' to taste tomboy's cookin!" Ranma quipped, twisting her body to the side and throwing her leg outwards towards Yusuke's stomach.

Yusuke easily deflected it with his wrist, throwing Ranma off balance who was forced to improvise and back-flip, or risk falling on her ass, "Ooo. Nice. Did daddy teach ya that one princess?"

Ranma's furious expression increased as she advanced in on Yusuke just a couple of steps before launching herself off of her feet, landing on her side and rolling on her side like a wheel. Turning completely, Ranma beautifully executed multiple back-flips, an uncaring Yusuke observing Ranma fly upwards and hover above his head before gravity did its job.

Yusuke's hands swiftly came out of his pockets the moment Ranma's feet came crashing down towards his shoulders, moving his fingers in sync with Ranma's stomps, thus rendering them ineffective.

"Actually, I picked it up from a book called 'How to Kick a Douche's ass,' wrote by yours truly, douche!" Ranma replied savagely, a straining look on her face while Yusuke made an 'O' with his mouth in amusement, 'Damn him! He ain't even 'tryin! I gotta ruffle his feathers somehow!'

Ranma abruptly stopped trying to tenderize Yusuke's shoulders, Yusuke's left index finger straightened up, waiting to block Ranma's foot but it was left hanging as Ranma wrapped her legs around Yusuke's neck; then the feisty redhead snaked her body downwards in a perfect show of flexibility.

"Sweep up time!"

As Ranma's hands neared the back of Yusuke's ankles, the redhead felt a sudden pull as if gravity itself was working against her. She flew up Yusuke's muscled back at speeds faster than the human eye could see before being chucked dizzyingly at a tree 20 feet away from Yusuke.

"Kyaaaaa!" Shrieked Ranma who violently spiralled out of control while Yusuke lackadaisically gave his right wrist a shake, 'Rats, he countered that without even breaking a sweat.'

Ranma twisted and turned in a desperate bid to gain a little control of her momentum and managed to change the trajectory of her flight before crashing through the tree. Instead Ranma's feet landed inch perfect on the tree and she slid seamlessly down it; a fierce look on her face.

"Okay, plan B, blitz his ass so bad he'll be pig-boy," Ranma raced off to Yusuke, leaving shattered ground and dust in her wake, "Legs see you try this on for size, hot shot!" Ranma challenged, hurtling towards Yusuke who hadn't dropped his emotionless façade while simultaneously getting her hands ready, "**Kachü Tenshin Amaguriken: (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open fire)**!"

Ranma's fists were speedily launched at Yusuke's abdomen. To the casual observer it looked like Ranma had only threw one punch, but to a more veteran speedy warrior like Hiei for instance Ranma unleashed a barrage of punches so ridiculously fast it appeared as if she had only threw one.

'Thanks ya old ghoul. There's no way Yu-chan coulda blocked that! No way! I've got this in the bag now,' Ranma mused with her eyes closed, but as the adrenaline rush wore off, she began to feel less assure of herself since she could feel her fists sticking to two thin objects.

She hoped they weren't what she thought they were.

Ranma opened her eyes and her fears were confirmed, "No way," Ranma backed away, horrified that Yusuke had countered her fastest technique with no more but his mere index fingers, "That's can't be right!" Ranma shook her head stubbornly, "There must be some mistake!"

"You done?" Yusuke wondered with a grin, confusing Ranma, "That was some mighty fine moves you pulled off there Ranma. If I was anyone else I think I mighta been thrown in the deep end or worse: KO'd! Good job!"

"What are you so pumped 'bout?! Was all this just a game to you mister?" Ranma interrogated ragingly, slamming her hands on her hips, Yusuke holding up his hands in a placating manner.

"Well, kinda, I figured If I got your mind off of today, you'd forget about the whole mini scuffle between you and I and come back to mine to get some grub, solid enit?" Yusuke grinned, causing Ranma's jaw to drop, her stomach growling a little at the mention of food.

"You staged all of this just so I'd forget 'bout how much of a jerk you were earlier?"

"Duh. So did it work?"

"No! You're still a jerk mister!"

"Aw, c'mon! Quit being such a drama queen. I said sorry already!"

"I'm not being a drama queen! I have every right to be furious at you, Yu-chan! And for your information you didn't say sorry, pal!"

"Well it was implied I was. Ain't that what matters?"

"Hell no!"

"Aw, c'mon, don't throw me in the doghouse," Yusuke pleaded, but Ranma crossed her arms and turned away from the indestructible untouchable boy. It looked like Yusuke wasn't too cool for begging after all, "Please, Ranma! I'm on my hands and knees pleading for your forgiveness!"

That elicited a loud guffaw from Ranma since she knew Yusuke would do no such thing as much as she wouldn't do the same to him, "Hahahahahahahahahaha! That's a good one!" Ranma wiped a tear from her eye and Yusuke grinned in mocked innocence at her, "What else ya got from that ass of yours?"

"Come see for yourself, baby," Ranma threateningly shook her fist at Yusuke multiple of times, causing him to raise his hands up, "Playin', playin'."

It took a moment but Yusuke had something else.

"Grub?"

Because any dispute could be settled with food.

"Hold on a minute," Ranma said and whirled around to point one finger at Yusuke, "You already promised me a make-up dinner earlier mister. Whatever happened to that?"

"I'm still gonna make it for ya."

"Like right now?"

"Whatever m'lady wants."

"Good! 'Cause I'm starved!"

"Does this mean I'm off the hook?" Yusuke hoped.

"No. But I'm simply not gonna turn down a free meal. A guy's gotta eat after all," Ranma explained with a wink and Yusuke sighed, feeling like he had been ripped off.

A smirk soon came to Yusuke's face, "Would I be coasting on the prank if I offered ya a chance to learn the secret of my strength, Ranma-chan?"

"Secret of your strength?" Ranma seemed interested now, if not a little confused, "What secret?!"

Yusuke wiggled his finger chidingly, "Ah, ah, ah, ah, first you gotta do sumthin for me."

"What?" Ranma narrowed her eyes, "Are you forgetting you're the one in hot water, bub?"

"Yeah, but you know the drill, the whole you scratch my back and I scratch yours. They say it's a really good way to build companionship, y'know." Yusuke excused expertly.

Ranma groaned, "Whaddya want Yu-chan?!"

To Ranma's confusion, Yusuke gently glazed her cheek with the tips of his fingers, butterflies appearing in her stomach, "I just want you to loosen up," Yusuke whispered softly, then to Ranma's great surprise, Yusuke did something she wouldn't have anticipated him doing, even if he told her he was going to do it.

He kissed her on the cheek.

Ranma's mind shut down. Yu-chan had pecked her on the cheek.

A guy had just violated her face with his lips!

She couldn't help it! Ranma decked Yusuke straight into his face, turning his face to the side.

"What the heck was that?" Ranma freaked out, hopping a couple of inches away from Yusuke with a blush on her face.

Yusuke merely turned his face around with no signs of an injury on his face, "It's just a tiny peck, Red. Y'know same thing a mama or a sister gives a lil tyke. Geez. Guess I'm not surprised with Lard-ass as your old man."

"A tiny peck from a guy ta a next guy!" Ranma resorted. "I'm a guy, guys ain't meant to lock lips with other guys!"

Yusuke rapped his knuckles over Ranma's head.

"Hey, whatcha do that for?" Ranma complained while holding her head.

Yusuke cracked his knuckles before burying his hands inside of his pockets, "Y'know, they say pecks on the cheeks are a sign of respect in some countries," He winked in a hinting manner at Ranma.

"What kinda backwards ass country is that?" Ranma shouted.

Yusuke sighed, "Take it you've never seen the Godfather," The look of sheer confusion on Ranma's face told Yusuke she had not seen one of the greatest films that will ever be made in this generation of the 90s, next to Scarface, "You really haven't. Well we can fix that when we get to my place. Come on."

Yusuke's serious face was immediately on show, as the feeling of an upper A-reiki signature nearing him and Ranma set his curiosity-levels off.

"What is it Yu-chan?" Ranma asked. The redhead got her answer in the form of several dull thuds lightly echoing through the air, sounding conspicuously like a wooden staff, "The old ghoul?"

"Mine, mine, what a nice day it is for a pair of young lovebirds to take a stroll in the park," Cologne joked, hopping near Yusuke and a glaring Ranma on her long brown staff.

"And you are lady?" Yusuke asked. No chit-chat. Now he was all about business.

Cologne was very impressed by the young man's serious demeanour.

He really was the son of Raizen.

"You may call me Cologne, sunny-boy," Cologne said.

"Yusuke. Yusuke Urameshi. And if it's not too much to ask why don't you skip the small talk and spill it already," Yusuke suggested, never dropping his guard.

'Damn. When Yu-chan wants to be serious, he really rips off the kid gloves,' Ranma mused.

Cologne nodded, "Not one for niceties, eh, sunny-boy? Okay, I can oblige to that. Now really isn't the time for pleasantries, not when there's something I believe both of you will want to hear, especially you Son-in-Law."

Ranma pointed at herself, confused, "Me? Why me you old ghoul?" Cologne's answer elicited a flinch out of Ranma and a curious expression out of Yusuke.

"Because it regarding the re-emergence of the Jusenkyo Preservation Society."

* * *

><p><strong>And that does it for this chapter. After this little mini arc is concluded Ranma can finally go meet Yusuke's friends and Keiko, Kurama, and Kuwabara will be given a break from University.<strong>

**Next fight will feature Ranma and I'm sure you all know who he's gonna fight. The company's top dog has beef with Ranma since episode 48.**

**Now scaling Yusuke's student Ryoga was rather difficult seeing as his attributes vary from each other.**

**Ryoga's durability would be on the level of middle A-class warrior. Ranma had to keep on repeatedly slamming his fist in the same spot on Ryoga just to hurt him.**

**Ryoga's speed is hypersonic.**

**Ryoga's destructive power is town level plus.**

**Overall Ryoga's an upper B-class fighter.**


	9. Ice Cold Killer

**Disclaimer: I don't own YuYu Hakusho or Ranma 1/2**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 9<strong>

**Ice Cold Killer**

A one hundred percent reassurance of one's safety was usually a comforting feeling for a normal, average human being. To know no matter what happened or who came knocking on your doorstep you'd still be able to blissfully amble off to your bed, hop in it before letting the sleep take you away to dreamland, only to wake up at the dawn of day was bless for most humble, normal humans.

However, Ranma Saotome was_ not_ a normal human.

...In any sense of the word.

The half boy, half girl knew of the dangers, which naturally came with the Jusenkyo Preservation Society, yet had no fear of even being captured because apparently she had been 'abusing' her curse form for her own 'evil purposes'.

For once it wasn't because Ranma was so self-assured in her strength to see off any threat who dared to fuck with her. No. The reason why the once supremely arrogant redhead was so assured of her own safety was walking next to her in his usual calm indifference.

This reasoning saddened and frightened Ranma at the same time.

It saddened her because the agonizing truth was thrown in her face – She was _unneeded_.

Ranma always strived to be the centre of attention, to awe people of all ethics and races of her strength. When her pops spoke of his belief with Yu-chan around the Tendo Dojo the master would shy away from them, it damaged Ranma's pride.

Genma didn't even mention her as an asset but lambasted her as a liability!

The scary part about this was, that Ranma fully believed in Yusuke's strength. But how could she not when it was blatantly thrown in her face, even if Yusuke hadn't shown her his true power?

Yusuke effortlessly outclassed Happosai - no tricks involved; dodged all of her attacks without every putting up his guard or pulling off anything even remotely resembling finesse and skill, and was hinted by Genkai to have power capable of destroying the planet!

Ranma knew she was strong. She would brag about her own strength until the cows came home, but even she couldn't delude herself that she could nuke the world.

Ranma held a firm belief that no-one from the Jusenkyo Preservation Society had anyone with power toppling or even equally Yusuke's, even relatively.

That was why Ranma was so sure she was as good as safe despite the fact the Jusenkyo Preservation Society had been snooping around.

Yu-chan wouldn't let anyone harm her. He had been protecting her ever since finding out how Genma had treated her.

That very thought scared her, because the very knowledge of Yusuke's protectiveness of her put a blush on her cheeks.

The curse.

It had to come down to the curse.

There was no way in flipping hell could Ranma feel butterflies in her stomach just by knowing Yusuke would protect her no matter the cost. Ranma was a man. Akane was the one who was meant to get the weak knees after Ranma had heroically rescued her from whomever bad-guy had appeared to kidnap her, not her-_him!_

That's it!

Fuck this shit!

Fuck it!

Fuck it to hell!

As soon as Ranma got to-.

"Hey, Red, you with us or what?"

Yusuke's voice broke the redhead out of her musings.

Ranma shook her head a couple of times, and looked up to see the concern-filled eyes of Yusuke and Cologne, the latter on her trademark staff holding open a door for her and Yusuke to stroll through.

'That's right. Yu-chan wanted the details from the old ghoul of that darn Jusenkyo Preservation Society,' Ranma thought. She then grumbled with an air of hostility about her, "Fine."

"Oh," But Yusuke wasn't too convinced, "You sure, 'cause you seem kinda bummed."

"I said I'm fine! Oh-kay?" Ranma yelled assertively, eliciting a flinch from her friend.

"Okay, then," Yusuke mumbled, taken aback, "Legs roll in."

Ranma nodded quite fiercely, following Cologne and Yusuke inside of the restaurant known as the cat café, "Hey, you old ghoul."

Cologne turned her head over her shoulder to look at the person who she'd been persuading for so long with a look that betrayed none of her thoughts, "Yes, what is that you require of me child?"

Ranma did not fail to realize Cologne had opted not to refer to her, _him_, as her son-in-law, and raised an inquisitive eyebrow, 'Huh? The old ghoul didn't call me her son-in-law,' A smirk appeared on Ranma's features, 'Well 'bout goddamn time she did too! Gee, I sure hope Shamps doesn't go back to setting a red bull-eye on my ass like before.'

Because that would suck.

Yeah.

"Get me a kettle of hot water, on the double!" Ranma more or less demanded.

"Can't you just wait until we've reached my pad? I ain't stayin' here long. Just sayin," Yusuke recommended.

"Hell no, I've been a freakin' gal all day, I wanna be me again right now, damn it!" Ranma ranted, stomping her foot down on the ground in vexation.

"Huh? You kinda lost me now, Red. Unless there's sumthin I miss, I'm sure you don't have metamorphosis powers to rip off your skin and put new ones on like a new set of flashy clothes," Yusuke quipped, giving Ranma a daring look.

"I'm a guy, Yu-chan. Ya got that? And as soon as you realize that pal is the moment we can kick start this relationship, cause right now it's 'bout as mobile as a friggin' tortoise!"

Yusuke's eyes shot wide open and he recoiled as if he had been shot in the heart by the redheaded girl.

He felt like he had been friend-zoned.

Cologne's eyes only narrowed at the interaction between the two.

Having witnessed Yusuke's immediate reaction, Ranma figured she'd done something wrong. It was for the simple fact that she had never seen Yu-chan look so hurt before, as if he had found out his relative had come down with a terminal illness.

Damn it. Now Ranma felt bad for the guy. Stupid crummy conscious.

"Uh, listen, Yu-chan I didn-."

"It's alright," Yusuke interrupted, speaking in a creepy calm tone of voice that left Ranma concerned. When he lifted his head, Ranma felt unnerved as she could no longer see the playfulness in his eyes, or on his lips, but instead he gazed upon the girl with a phlegmatic look, "You just wanna be the way you were born. Nuff said."

Ranma nodded her head slowly, resisting the urge to run up and hug Yusuke to put some enthusiasm back into him, 'Goddamn you, making me feel like crap, you damn bastard! You should be feelin' like crap, not me bub!' Ranma ranted internally, before letting out a long drawled out sigh.

It was so unfair that Yusuke had so much power over her.

'Hmm. It appears Brother-in-Law's son is going through similar relationship dilemmas as the ones Ranma and Akane had, with the child herself,' Cologne sighed. Nothing could ever be easy.

It was hard enough trying to persuade Ranma to marry Shampoo, much less convince Yusuke - someone even more powerful than her and the rest of her tribe put together - to hook up with her great granddaughter. And by the looks of it Yusuke already had some sort of feelings for the half girl, half boy.

That wouldn't do. That wouldn't do at all.

Yusuke needed to marry Shampoo, for the future of Amazonian women.

Cologne coughed into her hand, "So should I get my Shampoo to bring you some hot water, child?" Cologne asked, subtly trying to push Ranma away from Yusuke.

Ranma looked at Cologne with a small smile on her face, but her eyes showed her heart wasn't into it, "Yeah. Sure thing; good lookin' out you old ghoul."

Cologne nodded and turned towards the kitchen, "Shampoo! We got an order for a kettle of hot water. Hurry now, child."

"What! You mean I gotta cough up loot!" Ranma gasped.

Cologne turned towards her with a troll face, "Oh hush child, can't an old girl get a little fun."

Ranma pouted while Yusuke let out a dark, humourless chuckle, "Haha, you know, funnily enough I like the way you think lady," Yusuke stated.

Cologne guffawed croakily, "My, you've got quite the sense of humour on you, sunny-boy. Oh, if I were two hundred years younger," She ended there, leaving it up to the imagination. A mischievous grin was on her face.

Unfortunately, Yusuke wasn't amused, "That don't sound right." Cologne frowned, believing the boy to be a spoil sport until he gave her a troll face of his own, "Cause' I woulda gone with five hundred."

Cologne chortled heartily, so much so she nearly fell off of her staff.

"Gee. You old ghoul, don't give yourself a heart attack," Ranma recommended dryly.

"Oh, it seems we've got a cheeky one here, eh," Cologne stated amusingly, earning herself a shrug from Yusuke, "Oh, we're going to get along just fine sunny-boy."

'Uh. What does the old ghoul mean by th-.'

"Coming great grandmother," Ranma's thoughts were interrupted by Shampoo's cheerily voice. The redhead immediately turned to the direction of the voice to find a bruised Shampoo standing behind the counter, holding a golden kettle with stream flowing out of the entrance.

The bruise on her neck and left cheek was most likely from the devastating chop Yusuke gave her, add to the fact the momentum of said blow caused the bubbly girl to smash into Mousse with such force the two were sent rocketing away, over to a fountain.

Upon spotting them, Shampoo's eyes remained fixated in shock mode.

'Oh brother, here it goes,' Ranma deadpanned, expecting Shampoo to sprint over and glomp her.

"Aiyaa! Yu here!"

That was unexpected, but not unwelcomed. What was uncalled for, though, was Shampoo hurling the boiling kettle of hot water she carried out into the air, only to blur from sight and forget all about it.

"Hey, whatcha do that for?" Ranma complained, majestically jetting from one end of the restaurant to the other in a mere fraction of a second. The redhead neatly caught the kettle of water, breathing out a sigh of relief, "Whew. That was a close shave. Damn. What's got Shamps all uppity? And did she just call Yu-chan what I thought she did?"

Thinking back to earlier, Ranma realized Shampoo hadn't actually gotten Yusuke's name but had only heard her call the boy, 'Yu-chan'. Take out the honour suffix and one's left with the name 'Yu'. It wasn't too hard to rationalize.

'_Duh_. Shamps didn't get Yu-chan's name,' Ranma mused with a dry expression.

Ranma sighed and turned to walk back to whence she came from, only to feel a pang of jealously well up inside of her heart upon seeing Shampoo with her arms wrapped around a passive Yusuke's neck and rubbing herself against him.

"Hey. Whatcha doin'?" Ranma commanded, miffed.

"Shampoo happy Yu come around," Shampoo smiled at the nonchalant-looking Yusuke.

"Uh-uh, well this wasn't in my schedule. Didn't think kicking a gal's ass would earn me her eternal affection. Nifty," Yusuke quipped indifferently. It was not nifty, "Oh, in case you're wondering, no, the name's not 'Yu'. It's Urameshi, Yusuke Urameshi."

Ranma smiled, 'That's Yu-chan for ya, boy, does he love his references.'

Shampoo giggled, "Yusuke-airen very strong. Shampoo no match for Yusuke-airen. It make Shampoo very happy she found strong airen. Shampoo no need to look anymore," Yusuke's jaw dropped from Shampoo identifying him as her 'sweetheart'.

A look of understanding appeared on Ranma's face, 'That's right. Yu-chan owned Shamps' ass, and according to 'Amazonian-law'-,' She thought while adding air-quotes on the words Amazonian-law, a mocking strange look on her face, '-Shamps has to plant the kiss of marriage on the man that defeated her. Hm. Perhaps she'll quit pestering me now,' Ranma strangely enough didn't know how she felt about that.

Ranma couldn't figure herself out: whether she should be relieved that Shampoo was no longer pursuing her, or wary that she was now in the 'race' for Yusuke's affections.

'Was this the old ghoul's grand scheme all along?' Ranma wondered to herself, looking at the diminutive old lady, who seemed to be smiling at the entrapped Yusuke and Shampoo, but as if sensing Ranma's eyes on her, the smile disappeared, and a neutral expression took its place as she just stared Ranma down.

'Damn that crabby old bat. The old ghoul must know I'm on to her, but is tryin' to go on like she dunno squat!' Ranma thought with a cranky expression on her face.

"Shampoo! Oh Shampoo, how could you seek affection from someone else? Saotome, have you no shame? You already have a harem of women and… _men_, but yet you still actively pursue my dear Shampoo! You're sick!"

Ranma screamed out of fright, Yusuke nonchalantly gazed upon the short-sighted amazon young man, and Shampoo scowled in annoyance at Mousse for trying to ruin her moment with Yusuke.

"Don't scare me like that, you damn bastard!" Ranma screeched, side-kicking Mousse in his stomach with so much force it sent him flying off towards the wall, "And just for the record, Shamps ain't even near me. Geez Louise, Ducky, can you try and leave your see-and-glasses on for five minutes, PLEASE?"

Mousse dug himself out of the hole in the wall, a look of confusion on his face as he lifted down his glasses over his eyes, everything becoming much clear now, "Saotome?"

"Well I ain't the Easter Bunny," Ranma quipped, hands on her hips.

Mousse nodded and shifted his head to search for Shampoo, not taking long to find her, and immediately becoming overwhelmed as he saw her with her arms around a familiar's person's neck.

"I-It's you," Mousse said, "With my Sh-."

Shampoo huffed, her disdain for Mousse only growing.

"Hiya," Yusuke murmured with no room for kindness in his voice.

Mousse gulped, "Y-You've already wooed a man, but yet you have the audacity to seek my Sha-."

"Get lost," Yusuke commanded strictly. The amount of authority made Ranma so weak in the knees she dropped onto her knees, but a shiver of lust ran down Shampoo's spine.

This guy wasn't Saotome. He was by far more dangerous. Mousse may be tenacious, very, but he was far from dumb. He knew when he was far outclassed to the point where he shouldn't even try, and compared to Yusuke he might as well be a kid in a preschool trying to fight the headmaster.

Mousse got the feeling Yusuke wouldn't think twice to absolutely annihilate him from existence if he got on his bad side.

So, naturally, Mousse didn't argue back. He just left the four to their business.

"Hm. Impressive, sunny-boy," Cologne complimented. She felt threatened by Yusuke's authority, yet the strangest sense of nostalgia made her shiver, 'Hohohoho. This brings an old girl back. Brother-in-Law is indeed very much alive." He lives on within his ancestral son.

Looking at Yusuke, Cologne could see a resemblance of Raizen floating behind him.

"Yusuke-airen take no prisoners," Shampoo said dreamily, "Thank you for dealing with stupid Mousse. Shampoo know now Shampoo choose right airen, airen really care about her."

"Not really, I was just fed-up with his bitching," Yusuke grumbled honestly, but Shampoo apparently had hearing problems because she just greedily latched onto his arm and began leading him to a table.

"Hahaha!" Cologne croaked out in laughter, receiving a glare from Yusuke which only made her laugh out loud more.

"You okay, Red?"

"I'm fine, Yu-chan," Ranma grumped, standing up with the kettle of hot water held in her grip. She didn't know why it bothered her so much. Well… she did, she just liked to pretend she didn't know.

Knowing was painful because the truth was a bitch. Star.

Either way, it really hit Ranma in all the wrong places seeing Shampoo holding onto Yusuke's arm. The next thing Shampoo did once she reached the table really irked Ranma.

The redhead felt like giving the amazon-girl a flying kick to get her off of Yusuke. Well… maybe that was too much.

Ranma didn't hit girls, but she at least wanted to pick Shampoo up and put her on her own two feet peacefully.

"Shampoo get Yusuke-airen free meal."

"Uhm, Shamps."

"Yes, girl-Ranma?"

"Can you get off of Yu-chan's lap?"

"Aw, do Shampoo have to?"

XxX

(Elsewhere – Location Unknown)

Xxx

It was too early to be visiting the hospital. At least in Genma's mind it was.

Genma didn't have any plans to be seeing the doctor for any reasons whatsoever until he at least reached sixty five. By then he would have his boy, Ranma, taking care of him along with his wife, Akane Ten-, he meant to say, Akane Saotome; because after they get married Akane would take the surname Saotome. Obviously.

Yeah. It would be just as him and Tendo planned, their heavenly dream come true.

If not for that damned _boy_, 'Tendo and I would be celebrating retirement right now, if it wasn't for that meddling boy.'

Why did he have to show up, ruining all of his and Tendo's hard-work to get Ranma and Akane to fall in love? Genma could say with certainty that he preferred the evil master over Yusuke.

Sure the master was unbelievably strict and cruel, especially to him and Tendo back in the days where they were his students, but he at least never truly put the relationship between Akane and Ranma in jeopardy, heck, he even helped move them closer together, emotionally, and physically, involuntarily.

The master was scary, and often used Tendo's and Genma's fears towards him against them. That was all true. However, the master had never injured his students to the point where they'd need to submit themselves in a hospital… at least not with his own hands.

Heh. Look at him now, sitting within a sweet's shop eating a bowl of ice cream with a sling on his arm covering his dislocated wrist actually contemplating was the master _better _than someone.

Hell had officially frozen over.

"Humph. That boy, so oblivious to the ways of our life," Genma grumbled to himself, stuffing a spoonful of vanilla with syrup, sprinkles, and flake into his mouth, "And m'boy, have I not taught him to show gratitude to the one that raised him?" As far as Genma was concerned, Ranma owed him, but why shouldn't the boy owe him?

After all, Ranma only became such a great martial artist because of his Pops, no, his _oto-sama _(respected father), showed him the path to greatness, often holding his hand on the vicious training sessions Ranma underwent under Genma's tutorage.

Not willing to baby his boy forever, Genma alienated him on other tremendously difficult, but nonetheless, _soul-challenging_ training courses.

To know all of that time and effort he invested into Ranma to help him through his metamorphosis from a pipsqueak baby-faced brat to a respectable and honourable _man_ - a man among men – could all be for nothing was a frustrating and saddening realization for Genma.

Genma smacked his uninjured fist down on the table, ignoring the startled gasps from the other customers, "Grrr. That boy," Tears appeared inside of Genma's eyes, "Waa, waa, how could he do this, making m'boy prance around like a weak girl? Waa. Waa. If Nodok-." The words died in his throat; his heart stopped.

'If Nodoka ever finds out what happened to the boy, she'll make us commit seppuku,' Genma realized with cold sweat running down his cheek.

Damn. Yusuke had damned him and Ranma to eternal damnation. And the one who would be paying for their tickets to the otherworld's jail would be the very person whom Genma helped bring Ranma into the world.

Genma exploded to his feet like a rocket blasting off to space, abruptly scaring the piss out of his inconvenient audience. Some way, he just knew he had to find a method of bringing Ranma back to the Tendo Dojo, cure him of his pansy curse, sever his ties with the boy, Urameshi, and lastly, which was the most important task to see through; rekindle and reignite the fading flame that was Akane and Ranma's relationship!

This'd be a long and vicious journey, but Genma was confident he would see it through.

He was the one who made Ranma who he was after all - A great and powerful martial artist, respected and feared by all other martial artists for his tremendous skill and manliness!

Furthermore, Genma was a wise and powerful man… well, mostly wise. If push came to shove Genma would, 'deal', with Yusuke in some way.

Yeah. He had to, otherwise him and his boy can kiss their behinds goodbye – or their digestive systems Genma should muse – quite literally. Genma wasn't quite ready to see his precious, yummy sweets spew forth from his newly sliced open gut just yet.

"Sir."

Oh. Of course. Genma, being the wise and most respected man he was, had another manly task to complete.

"You forgot to pay the bill."

Genma put on his best wide grin as he turned towards the sound of a sweet voice, reaching into his pocket with his good hand to pull out his wallet; opening it up, and bringing out a credit card.

"Here you go, miss," He handed the waitress the credit card, "And might I say you're looking particularly lovely on this fine evening dear," The waitress looked slightly amused at being hit on by a middle-aged man.

"Oi, you, *takes a look at the credit card* Tendo-san, I have a grandparent you're age."

Genma looked sheepish as he rubbed the back of his head. Those who had witnessed his attempt at game snickered mockingly, 'It doesn't matter if the kids are mean,' After all, Genma was simply too high on sugar.

Besides, he had more important, _manly_, stuff to do, like getting his boy on the right track to becoming a respectable family-man with his bride-to be: Akane Tendo. So, without further ado, Genma retook Soun's credit card from the waitress after she had totalled the bill for his sweets on it.

Genma paced out of the sweet's store with a wise look of a determined grandmaster on his aged face. He would find Ranma and set him straight, just like he had promised Nodoka he would. There was no doubt about it.

Now the only thing he had to accomplish before that was to get around that sulky little old man wearing a purple gi that looked conspicuously like the ma-.

"M-Master!" Genma mumbled stutteringly, trembling at the sight of a grumpy-looking Happosai he had run across on his way to the Tendo Dojo, standing next to the damaged canal. How the canal got like that was beyond Genma, however, the man wasn't too concerned about that.

Not with the evil master standing before him.

"Ohhh, that no good rotten brat. Why I ought to wallop him one alright," Happosai bitched, tears forming in his eyes, "Oh. My collection, my beautiful haul; I worked so hard to gather 'em. Waa, don't he know about finders-keepers?"

There was nothing in this world that Happosai loved more than woman's underwear, bras and panties. Well, with the exception of the female-parts, their underwear was gold in Happosai's opinion.

Taking away Happosai's treasure was like a baby losing its pacifier.

Yusuke had to die. He needed to be gone. Happosai couldn't live without stealing the bras and panties of pretty ladies. This was his passion. To be denied that… well, he would rather take a knife and wedge it through his body and soul then have to bear the excruciating torment of losing his treasure.

Fortunately for the diminutive long lasting founder of the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts, there was a way to be rid of Yusuke. It was no secret that Happosai had been around for centuries, seeing first hand of power from warriors that even made Yusuke looked like what David was to Goliath in comparison.

Bringing back one of these 'good Samaritans' would be easy. Sure Happosai would be the cause of the apocalypse, but who cares! He would never again have to go through the torture of seeing his prized correction pried from his grip, _ever again_.

In other words, the award well merited the effort.

Happosai sniggered devilishly, 'Hehe. Whatcha gonna do when lord Ganondorf comes for you, fella,' The childish tiny senior citizen quipped rhythmically, a curious expression coming to his face at the sound of a terrified yelp. Looking up, Happosai's fiendish grin widened upon being greeted with the sight of a quivering Genma.

"Hiya Genma, fella, how's it going?"

"M-Master," Genma stammered, "Y-You're b-back. I'm sorry, m-master. I w-was a-always on your side. I too despise that boy for what he did to my dear master. A-And-." Oh sweet merciful Jesus, this was too much. Just where was some convenient cold water when a man needed it?

Genma soon found out he would be praying to whatever god was up in the sky, despite not being a praying man; all because of a soft chuckle which came from Happosai. He wasn't mad? Despite the fact both of his students, and the other residents at the Tendo Dojo sold him out the moment a more powerful warrior showed up?

Strange.

But definitely not unwelcomed.

Perhaps Genma's luck really was changing for the better.

"Hehe. Come now, Genma, whatcha take your old master for, huh? I knew you of all people would still be on my side. Between you and me, I always liked you better instead of that other one."

"Tendo."

"Yes, him," Happosai confirmed, coughing into his hand with Genma gazing at him with curiosity laced on his face, "Say, Genma. Whaddya say if I offered you the chance to be rid of that disrespectful brat, Urameshi, huh?" Genma's eyes widened at Happosai's proposal, hardly believing the convenience of it all. He was just thinking of a way to sever Ranma's bond with Yusuke, and now the master comes along and dangles a chance of achieving that goal!

It couldn't be.

"A-Are you serious?"

"Come now, would I ever lie to you?"

Genma just gave Happosai a pointed look.

"Well I'm not lying to you now! If you want that disrespectful brat out of your life like me you'll take me up on my offer!" Happosai shouted indignantly, crossing his arms with an air of supremacy about him, "It's frankly in your best interest too, if you want to be on his good side fella."

"Who's he?"

Happosai could hardly contain his excitement as he bounced around like a kid in a candy store.

"Lord Ganondorf."

XxX

(With Yusuke - Cat Café)

"What?! Akane got attacked!?"

"Yes, child, you heard correct. Having felt the power of Ryoga I when to investigate what could cause the boy to become so agitated. I started at the clinic, or what was left of it. The doctor, I believe his name is doctor Tofu, informed me of the incidents. Apparently, only today, the school's principal hired a new teacher, that being a member of the Jusenkyo Preservation Society. He threw his weight around, and the Tendo-girl stood up to him."

"And the rest is, as they say, history," Yusuke finished for the old lady, coolly sitting on the chair with his arm leaned back. His seat was sandwiched between Shampoo's and Ranma's. The tiny lady just stood on the table with her staff held up next to her.

"Indeed," Cologne said.

"Damn it," Ranma said in frustration, back in his birth form, "Idiot! She's such an idiot! Standing up to a guy like that! What if he had hurt her? Then what would that dummy had done! I'll tell ya what, nuthin!"

"Sounds like the guy did a lot to her," Yusuke mumbled, fishing through his pocket.

"You know what I mean!" Ranma snapped.

"Of course I do," Yusuke said. Despite the patronizing tone of Yusuke's voice, he really did know what Ranma meant. Mr S could've eradicated Akane from existence. Ranma knew this, but he was too sweet and innocent that speaking about death and killing unnerved him.

Ranma had never gotten his hands dirty.

"Ranma really care for angry-girl?" Shampoo questioned.

The martial artist gave the amazon-girl a shrug, "Well, not in the way you're thinkin'. 'Till, been livin' with her for like, what? Three, four months," Ranma said, but he quickly decided to rephrase that after thinking it through, "…Well, lived with tomboy. Guess I became sumthin' of a guardian angel. I dunno," Ranma attempted to explain, earning himself a nod from Shampoo.

It was at that moment Ranma noticed something off about Shampoo.

"Hey," His suspicious gaze fell upon the girl like a heavy rainfall, "Since when have you gave a rat's ass 'bout me caring for Akane, Shamps? Weren't you in a four-legged horserace with her and Ucchan to see who could tie me down first?"

Shampoo smiled at her long-pursued ex-fiancé before looking at the young man next to her, who, by then, had brought his hand out of his pocket – an average-looking flip-up Samsung phone now in hand - and was scrolling through the list of contacts.

"Shampoo happy she no longer need go after Ranma anymore. Now Shampoo have Yusuke-airen, she let Ranma go," Shampoo explained, causing Ranma to grit his teeth. It bothered and irked him that Shampoo declared Yusuke hers.

"Yeah… nope. Not happenin' love. See I ain't really ready for anythin' serious, 'em are the brakes," Good old Yu-chan, straight-up debunking Shampoo in an 'I don't-give-a-damn-about-your-feelings' sort of way. It made Ranma wonder just how Yusuke could be so strong, in a mental sense, not in a physical one.

'Damn, Yu-chan. You're one tough cookie,' Ranma thought, giving Yusuke a look of admiration, never noticing the narrowed eyes of Cologne fixed on him, 'Heh. Wish I had 'em kinda balls. Who knows, maybe I wouldna wussed out tellin' Shamps, Akane, and Ucchan to back-off, 'cause this hunk of masculinity ain't ready to hop on the boat of marriage.' Ranma sighed, carefully lifting up his arm a bit and scooting it towards Yusuke, a yearning expression on his features, 'Damn. If there were ever a time for a magical lamp to appear now would be it. I'da manned up, been tougher, tough enough to snuffle Yu-chan's feathers. And…'

…To stand alongside him – as his equal and not as his lesser.

'Yu-chan.'

"Shampoo do all she can, make Yusuke-airen hers," Shampoo said in determination.

Yusuke clicked his tongue with his phone now on his ear, "Did you even hear me? Guess not. In that case legs rewind, shall we?" Yusuke cleared his throat, "Me no interested in you, comprende?

Shampoo pouted, "Why Yusuke-airen be mean to his Shampoo? He beat her fair and square in honourable battle. That means he destined to be Shampoo's, is way of Amazonians," A scowling inquisitive look laced Yusuke's features.

"For reals?"

"Yes. If strong male beat amazon-woman, he rewarded with her hand in marriage."

Yusuke whirled his head on an innocent-looking Cologne.

"You old wryly coyote; this was all a part of your mad scheme to get me here enit? You little bit-. Eh! Oh, not you babe. What you sayin' anyway?" Yusuke's abrupt switch of both tone and subject hinted the person he was ringing had picked up the line.

"Hey. Who're you talkin' to?" Ranma asked, but only received a shushing motion by his _not-crush_, but friend's hand, which caused him to pout in annoyance but otherwise chose to just listen in on the conversation like Cologne and Shampoo, the latter whom had a mask of a cute lour on her face from hearing her airen identify someone as a babe.

They saw a few nods, then heard a soft laugh come from the strongest person in the café.

"At least you know the routine. Props."

A few more nods to no one in particular and a short drone was next.

"True. Been pimping ya for a month now."

That little statement earned Yusuke strange, curious glances, while he just listened to the person over the line, occasionally letting out a hum as a way to let whomever he was speaking to know he had understood him/her, and that the speaker should go on.

"Yeah, that's all well and good, but tells me sumthin', how's your sis? I hear she was on the receiving end of an ass-whooping. I figured Ryo musta broke the guy down, piece by piece."

Well, Yusuke had to be talking to either Nabiki or Kasumi, going by what they were just discussing, regarding the Jusenkyo Preservation Society sending someone over to dispose of the cursed ones, however one ended up harming Akane.

Yusuke was probably just phoning to see how the girl was doing.

"Ah, okay, good to know. Yeah, he let her out already. Sheesh, that doc must be cuckoo-cuckoo for your sis."

Ranma rolled his eyes, a deadpan expression on his face. That settled it. Once Yusuke said doc Ranma knew he meant Doctor Tofu, and as soon as he mentioned 'your sis' again, instead of you, Ranma knew without a doubt that Yusuke was speaking with the money-making woman of the Tendo Dojo, Nabiki.

"See ya in a jiff. I'll be bringing someone with me for the joyride, I'm sure you'll recognise him," Yusuke pulled a face, "Ah, you're no fun. Okay, catch you in a minute. Buy," Yusuke hang up his phone.

"Nabiki." Ranma guessed dryly.

"Yeah, how'd you know?" Yusuke asked rhetorically, returning to his mask of indifference.

"I'm psychic," Ranma returned sarcastically, though he was worried with Yusuke's switch from a laid-back joking goofball, to an impassive hard-man, 'What's got him so down in the dumps? Does it have sumthin to do with me not wanting to be a gal?'

"What money-grabbing girl to you?" Shampoo demanded with an angry look on her cute face.

"Oh, 'nuthin, just an employee of sorts," Yusuke said casually, turning his head to give Shampoo a hard glance, "What's it to you anyhow? Last time I checked, we weren't an item."

Shampoo brightened up, "Oh, okay, Yusuke-airen. Shampoo thought she have competition for her airen. Shampoo glad she doesn't, but even if she did, Shampoo wouldn't lose Yusuke-airen to anyone, she amazon-warrior after all."

The competitive part of Ranma wanted to blurt out that Shampoo wasn't getting Yusuke unless she could pry the young man from her cold, dead, lifeless finger tips, and even then it would be near impossible to do so, but the young pigtailed martial artist resisted the urge.

'Damn this fucking curse!' Ranma thought, growling in annoyance.

Yusuke rolled his eyes, getting up to his feet and putting his phone away, "Whenever helps you sleep at night," He dismissed, but Shampoo still had an optimistic expression on her cute face, "Legs roll, Ranma."

"Where're we headin' Yu-chan?" Ranma asked and rose to his feet.

"First off, to meet Nabs. I need to correct my money," Yusuke said.

"Whoa. I didn't think there was a snowball's chance in hell of Nabs willing giving out the green," Ranma quipped with a gawk, "-To her own fuckin' family, let alone anyone else. Just how the hell did you swing that pal?"

"She ain't. But I'll be damned if she doesn't. That bitch owes me anyway," Yusuke groused.

"Whaddya mean?" Ranma asked in confusion.

"I used to smack heads a lot around the block in my neighbourhood and my school-."

"-And lemme guess, Nabs made a profit off of 'em right?" Ranma filled in.

"Nailed it. Now I'm just making sure she pays her dues, a man's gotta eat after all," Yusuke stated, straightening his shoulders, then glancing ahead of him to meander out of the café; however, he groaned in annoyance upon seeing Shampoo blocking his path with a smile on her face.

"Oh-kay, I'll bite. Whaddya need? And before you ask, no, I ain't takin' you with me. What I'm gearing myself for shouldn't be witnessed by those who will most likely be scarred by it," Yusuke said, getting a narrow-eyed look from Cologne and a perplexed one from his naïve friend, Ranma.

"Shampoo just wants to give airen gift."

"Uh-uh, and that would be-."

Just from the way Shampoo was stretching up on her tip-toes to reach Yusuke's height, set off alarm bells in Ranma's head.

Reflexively, the pigtailed martial artist dashed to the side of Yusuke, placing his hands on his arm and hastily ushering him away from Shampoo, leaving the girl fumbling with her lips puckered out.

"Well, would you look at the time! Best be off, right bud? Heh. Don't wanna keep Nabs waitin', just… Saiyan'." A miffed expression masked Yusuke's face. Regardless, the man allowed himself to be pushed near the entrance by his friend.

"I'm still pissed at ya for pushin' me, but you get points for the DBZ reference."

"Thought I would. Heh. Look who can read who like a book?"

"Beginner's luck."

"That's what she said."

"Damn."

"I'm on a roll."

'It's just as I feared, the child appears to have some confused feelings for Brother-in-law's son. It won't be as easy as I hoped to convince Yusuke to marry my Shampoo,' Cologne mused.

"Wait, wait, hold your horses, damn it," Yusuke said upon being eased to the door by Ranma.

"But nuthin'! Let's just go already!" Ranma pleaded harshly.

"I got sumthin to ask. Sumthin of great importance. If I don't get it off of my chest now shit's gonna get real 'cause I'll get pissed. And you won't like me when I'm pissed."

"Who do you think you are, the friggin' Hulk?"

Yusuke gave Ranma a shrug before looking at Cologne, "Hey, lady, I need to know."

"Go on, sunny-boy. What's on your mind?"

"Are the rest of your people all named after hair-products, or is it just you and Shampoo?"

Cologne gave Yusuke an owlish stare and Ranma dropped onto the back of his head.

"That's the important question you wanted to ask!" Ranma yelled, shooting up to his feet, "What the hell?"

"Hey, it ain't my fault the top murdering criminal known as curiosity wanted me to push up daises if I didn't soothe it," Yusuke quipped in return.

"Ya' know, sometimes I wonder how you function." Ranma grumbled with his arms crossed.

"Gee. Like I ain't heard that one before," Yusuke groused sarcastically, "So little lady, what's the dealio with that?"

Cologne laughed, "It's just we find outsiders have some difficulty pronouncing our authentic names sunny-boy, so we use aliases as a means to bypass the awkwardness."

"And that's only for gals, right?"

"Correct. However, the men in our tribe do get aliases, just not ones based on products for cleaning one's hair."

"Okay," Yusuke said, sweeping that under the carpet, "High time we made a move now anyways."

"I can surmise that I won't be hearing from the Jusenkyo Preservation Society from this day onwards, right sunny-boy?" Cologne guessed.

"Course. Leave it to me," Yusuke assured in a business-esque tone.

Ranma smirked, "Heh. And I'll have your back, bud," Ranma was quick throw himself into the fray, eager to prove to Yusuke that he could keep up with him. That in of itself should merit acknowledgement. After this, Yusuke would see Ranma as a top-class fighter and would pull no punches in their spars.

"No."

Just like that Ranma's hopes were thrown to the wayside.

"What?" Ranma growled in annoyance, "What the hell do you mean no!? Why shouldna I go with ya to smack those bastards 'bout? Hell, I was one of the suckers they targeted when they first rolled up here! I didn't even know you even existed back then, pal!"

"No, N – Fucking – O, No, just like it's spelled," Yusuke clarified, his back facing Ranma while Shampoo looked on curiously at the controversy between the two.

"Why?! Why the hell not damn it!" Ranma shouted in near desperation, his temper further increasing by a shrug from the young man which had told him he was not welcomed in on this brawl, "Gah! Answer me, damn you!" Ranma spun Yusuke around, gripping the young man's collar, and staring ferociously into Yusuke's eyes, an expression Yusuke returned with an emotionless one of his own.

"Tell me, tell me now, damn you! Why don't cha think I ain't up to par to deal with a few chumps!? I've busted my ass off, y'know? Just for the slimmest of chances I can show ya how good I am at fighting!" Ranma asked, "I can smash teeth out and banged heads together just as well as you, damn it!"

Yusuke merely closed his eyes only to reopen them and gently reach his hand out to glaze Ranma's cheek with the tips of his fingers, causing the pigtailed martial artist to flinch as he backed up from the touch he involuntarily relished in for a few seconds, freeing Yusuke from his grip.

Ranma looked away from Yusuke in embarrassment, 'Rats. Damn it, Ranma. Pull yourself together. No need to go all gluey just from a freakin' touch,' Ranma fiercely shook his head, trying to forcibly shake off the Goosebumps he got from Yusuke's touch.

"Ranma."

Ranma looked a little surprised at the soft command from Nerima's finest warrior, but even still, the pigtailed martial artist was not so forgiving this time and gave the wolf-esque half-demon the full force of his cocky rage.

"Huh? Did'ya finally realize, 'oh snap, Ranma can tussle it out with the big guns too. He ain't just a piece of ass! I should leg him tag along and show me his stuff'? Heh. Looks like sumthin clicked in that empty noggin of yours for once dummy."

Ranma's victory plans were stopped short of a solid tap on his shoulder-blade before feeling himself reeled in. His eyes went wide glancing at the scowling expression of Yusuke, with a hint of an apologetic one in his eyes.

"Sorry," Yusuke murmured, barely loud enough to be heard, but it didn't need to be any louder for one Ranma Saotome who had got the message loud and clear. Yusuke scooted his head towards Ranma's ear. Ranma's breath hitched in his throat from the warm feeling of Yusuke's breath on his ear.

"For everything."

A sharp exhale and bits of saliva left Ranma's mouth from his solar-plexus getting shoved in from a strike.

Shampoo was wide-eyed witnessing Yusuke's fist wedged into Ranma's abdomen.

"Why?" Ranma whispered, his world starting to fade to black.

"Cause' you're a liability," Yusuke answered coolly, but before those words could really sink into Ranma, the bliss of unconsciousness claimed him. He would've fallen if not for Yusuke who caught him. Though it was probably more accurate to say Yusuke was used as a ramp since Ranma fell into his direction.

"Why Yusuke-airen knock out boy-Ranma?" Shampoo wondered, but Yusuke only shouldered Ranma, not even so much of sparing Shampoo a glance.

"I think I know why," Cologne spoke up, showing her aged experience and wisdom.

"Great grandmother know why Yusuke-airen put Ranma to sleep," Shampoo said.

Cologne nodded, "Yes," Cologne got Yusuke's scowling attention, "Sunny-boy, you don't want Ranma to see what you're going to do, do you?"

"Yeah," Yusuke confirmed, "You're not wrong there lady," Yusuke turned his eyes Ranma's way. If Ranma saw or heard what Yusuke was going to do to the people whom had been trying to capture him he felt it would've tainted Ranma's pure spirit. It was just how Ranma was, naïve; something of which Yusuke wanted to protect.

He neither had much of a purpose since being sacked as a spirit detective nor much lights, his mother and Keiko among the few that he had.

Yusuke made it his duty to preserve Ranma's innocence.

"He's a fool. 'Till, if I must brother him, then so be it," Yusuke said, closing his eyes.

It did fill Cologne with hope that Yusuke's and Ranma's relationship was _seemingly_ more of a brotherly one then a romantic one, but that hope was small at best. People gradually change over time, and the aged woman knew this, furthermore, Ranma was also a girl. He may not want to be one right now, but as time goes on he could reconsider that.

"So Yusuke-airen will ki-." The look the young half-hybrid gave the human girl told the trained warrior all she needed to know, "Shampoo see."

Yusuke spun on the balls of his feet, "Thanks for the info, lady, and the meal." A dark gleam shadowed Yusuke's eyes, "Just leave this shit to the pros," Cologne didn't miss the way Yusuke said the word 'pro' in its plural form instead of its singular one.

He obviously had someone in mind to take with him.

As Shampoo watched Yusuke amble towards the exit with a sleeping Ranma over his shoulder, the bubbly girl soon realized she was yet to give Yusuke the kiss of marriage.

"Wait! Airen! Shampoo forgot give gift!" Shampoo would've hurried over to Yusuke if not for the fact that he had already vanished, vanished like the wind, "Aw, airen gone."

"Do not fret, child. For you would not have gotten your way with him," Cologne stated in a matter-of-fact wise tone of voice. Shampoo turned towards her great grandmother with a surprised look on her face.

"Yusuke-airen not like Ranma at all, is he great grandmother?" Shampoo asked, "Shampoo easily plant kiss of marriage on Ranma. How new airen be so slippery?" Shampoo retook her seat around the table.

"It is difficult to put into words, but I suppose one could look at it as the fact the boy ascends from a very powerful race; one leaps and bounds ahead of ours. This I'm positive you've realized already," Cologne spoke calmly, causing Shampoo to shiver for the second time that night, but not from lust.

It was from fear.

"Yes. Airen beat Shampoo and Mousse so easy, like way Shampoo beat angry-girl," Cologne chuckled in her trademark croaky fashion, "Why airen so strong great grandmother? Is tribe of airen's all be like Yusuke-airen?"

"In due time, child, in due time," Cologne assured, "For now, try to get to know the boy, who knows, you might be able to win one this time," The chiding tone of Cologne's voice told Shampoo not to try any tricks against this young man because things wouldn't be pretty.

Still, Shampoo was determined to get her man.

"Shampoo make Yusuke-airen hers for sure."


	10. Going out with a Bang

**Disclaimer: I don't own YuYu Hakusho or Ranma 1/2.**

**Why do cats gotta be hating on Sasuke? There's the question of the day. If anything, they should be hating on Naruto, he's the idiot, not Sasuke. There's nothing good about a kid willing to disgrace himself for one guy who doesn't want to know him. Bowing down to the Raikage - anguishing over Sasuke and his thoughts on Sasuke - declaring his desire to die with Sasuke. No thank you. That's sickening on Naruto's part, not admirable.**

**Either-way, Sasuke for the win.**

**Oh well, haters gotta hate.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 10 <strong>

**Going out with a Bang!**

The cool night air hit a waiting Nabiki's form, gently blowing the bangs of her brown hair.

Though, she'd rather prefer to be home keeping her money to herself, she was more than smart enough to realize that wasn't going to cut it. Yusuke was not Ranma, in any definition of the word. Ranma was incredibly easy to manipulate due to him being stupidly gullible and just plain dumb in general.

The poor half girl, half boy could never tell when Nabiki was pulling the wool over his eyes, furthermore – just to add further nails in the coffin of this - Ranma's chivalry stopped him/her from harming Nabiki.

Ranma could be foolish enough to lend money from Nabiki for whatever reason and Nabiki could just keep on raising the interest. Any reason she'd give Ranma for why she decided he'd need to hand over more money to pay off his debt to her would be easily accepted by the ignorant martial artist.

Because Ranma was so powerful, it just made it all the more startling coming to the realization he was a doormat.

Unfortunately, Nabiki met her maker in Yusuke Urameshi. In some ways, he was a stark contrast to his fellow rude teenager, Ranma Saotome.

They were both arrogant, and cocky, but whereas Ranma was cheerful, Yusuke was apathetic. From where Ranma stood on the optimistic scale, Yusuke brooded on the pessimistic one, though he had his moments of playfulness.

Ranma was the idealist.

Yusuke was the realist.

Ranma was the yang to Yusuke's yin.

And it frustrated Nabiki. Yusuke wasn't no A-grade student but he was clever enough to realize she had been making a profit out of his fights back when he was in school, and set out to claim what was rightly his, in his opinion.

Yusuke simply made good on his promise last month to have an negotiation with Nabiki.

It simply went along the lines of, "You work for me now, gimme 70% whatever you make at school every week for as long as I say, cah-peesh?"

Nabiki didn't try to argue back for the simple fact the threatening look within Yusuke's eyes spoke volumes, as was the firm grip he held on her arm. He had no chivalry. Nabiki wasn't a fighter; she was a business woman first and foremost.

Daddy and Saotome were scared of Yusuke and Yusuke didn't even register Akane as a fighter.

*Sigh* So now Nabiki worked directly under 'Big Daddy,' exhorting the kids at school and even her own family, not that cared about ripping them off.

Still, out of all the people who could've been her boss, Nabiki would admit she could've had worst. Nabiki respected Yusuke if she was being reluctantly honest with herself, at least marginally. The man wasn't afraid to take what he wanted, when he wanted, whenever he wanted; consequences be damned!

That took balls.

Speaking of the devil, Nabiki put on her best coy smile upon seeing him enter the park, their typical place of business, shouldering an object by the looks of things, "Evening boss, how do you do on this pleasant evening?"

Yusuke wasn't in the mood for any of her games, "Cut the crap, Nabs, I ain't in the mood."

"So good to see you too, boss," Nabiki said sarcastically, noticing the roll of the eyes she got from her boss. She let that slide for obvious reasons, and one more, which caught her mind's eye.

When Yusuke got closer to her she deduced he was carrying a person from the pair of legs hanging over his shoulder.

With curiosity threatening to kill her, Nabiki set out to sate it by walking around Yusuke who had an intrigued expression on his face before it turned into a scowling one of annoyance.

"Hey, quit nosying up in my business."

Nabiki tapped Yusuke gently on the arm; her sign of an apology, causing him to grumble irritably, but otherwise let her find Ranma knocked out and slung over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

"So, the runaway's return," Nabiki commented with a feigned smile of approval on her features.

"Oh, I know you don't give two fucks about Ranma comin' back to this lunatic mental institution-esque city," Yusuke groused grumpily.

"I know, but you two lovebirds took off so abruptly it would've been mistaken for a secretive romantic honeymoon had you not come back and set up stay here," Nabiki coolly resorted, her analytical mind taking in the red tinted cheeks of Yusuke.

"Naw, more like she jumped ship after someone with a noggin pointed out how loony this place is," Yusuke said, him referring to Ranma as a girl caused the observant Nabiki to raise an inquisitive eyebrow.

"She?"

The only sign that Yusuke had made a mistake calling Ranma female despite the pigtailed martial artist being in his male form was Yusuke sputtering, if only barely.

"Yes, she," Yusuke felt bad calling Ranma a female knowing his friend didn't desire to be a girl, but regardless of that the young man wasn't going to show the hawk-eyed money-making Tendo his conscious. So, with a redundant tussle of the shoulders, Yusuke Urameshi fell back into his hard-man persona complete with a glowering mask.

"You got beef?"

"Please, do tell how I, a normal schoolgirl, can have a problem with you, oh-so great one, lest I forget you're a super-powered martial artist?" Her sardonic remark left it clear as day she had no qualms over Yusuke calling Ranma a female, though she pocketed that info for later.

Yusuke just hummed.

Nabiki fished around in her pocket and pulled out a wad of bills, "Here's your cut my _fearless leader_."

"I don't like your tone," Despite his supposed distaste of Nabiki's sarcastic nature there was still a playful edge to Yusuke's voice.

"Oh, I'm so scared," Nabiki handed her boss his money.

"You should be," Yusuke urged, breezing through the wad of bills with a critical eye, "It's been racking the ol' noggin lately, but I've been thinking about giving out spankings to those who step outta line."

Nabiki almost went slacked-jaw, "You wouldn't…"

"And you're forgetting who you're talkin' to," Yusuke had his troll face on now, a sign of his victory. How could Nabiki forget? This was the young man who shamelessly poked Ranma's boob like he could, or should, since he could, and had the power to get away with it.

"Fine," Nabiki mumbled, closing her eyes and straightening her arms to her sides in reluctant acceptance, "I'll try and behave myself, boss."

"Course you will," Yusuke said it like there was a one hundred percent guarantee his words would hold true, a condescending smirk engraved on his face. Though, it fell from his face a moment later so he could put on his scowling look of annoyance.

"The cash is low, even lower than the last time. Why're you holding out on me?"

"Business has been slow with Saotome AWOL, boss," Nabiki explained, "My other source of income is also unavailable to me."

"So, no dice eh?" Yusuke enquired.

"Yes," Nabiki confirmed, "If Kuno-baby was here my finances wouldn't be so tight."

"Hold up; Kuno, as in the loony fake ass samurai Kuno, that Kuno?" Yusuke asked with a cool lifted eyebrow, in the Rock-esque.

"Yeah, that's my Kuno-baby," Nabiki smiled sardonically, more like cash cow, "Have you seen him? Do tell if you have then I-. Ahem, I mean, _we _can make more money."

"I did," Yusuke started, a cheerily smile appearing on Nabiki's features, "But that was a month ago," Yusuke snarled, arms crossed over his chest and wolf-fangs showing.

"Do you know where he is?" Nabiki asked quite frantically. There weren't many times where she would lose her cool, but desperate times called for desperate measures! She needed more money!

"Nah. He tried to go mano-a-mano with me and failed epically. After he vowed to slay my ass, and fucked off to the ends of the earth, I ain't seen him since," Yusuke said, leaving Nabiki frustrated. Though, Kuno's power level was increasing slowly, but surely, "What a nutter. I told the dumb bitch Ranma was my bird, but he twisted that made-up story to create his own fucked up version, that being me, and I quote, 'A miscreant', having used some voodoo-shit to mind-rape Ranma to make her mine."

"And he wanted to save the 'fair-lady' right?" Nabiki guessed, bored.

"Right," Yusuke grumbled, "Fucking retard."

Nabiki signed, "That's Kuno-baby for you," She smiled, holding up a finger as she prepared to impersonate Kuno, "I can just imagine him preaching, 'Miscreant! How dare thee bewitch the fair lady, the pigtailed goddess. I shall smite thee where thee stand'."

"Gee. You're awfully knowledgeable of the cuckoo mock-samurai," Yusuke mumbled sarcastically.

Nabiki shrugged, "Nothing fazes me after I attempted to explain Ranma's girl form-," She paused to rephrase that, "-Well let's just say girl-Ranma, and male-Ranma were one in the same person to Kuno-baby."

"Uh-nun. And how'd that go?" The unenthused half-demon just knew how it went.

"Just how you'd expect it to go; he came to the conclusion that male-Ranma had captured girl-Ranma's body and spirit," And Nabiki clarified Yusuke's prediction.

"With the voodoo-shit, right?"

Further clarification was made by Nabiki's nod.

Yusuke let out a long drawled-out sigh, "This neighbourhood is just the place to Cosplay as my favourite Looney-Toons character, Bugs Bunny," Because Bugs Bunny was the king of trolls. Yusuke should put a poster up in his flat of Bugs Bunny, so he can pray and ask Bugs to bestow his awesome trolling abilities on him.

Nabiki gave Yusuke a sly smile, "Oh, if you think Kuno-baby mad, just wait until you meet his daddy. He happens to be the principal of Furinkan High School."

"I don't even want to know," What Yusuke did know, was he made the right move in getting Ranma out of this place. His friend didn't need this nonsense in her life.

"So, where are you taking Saotome?" Nabiki enquired, eyes lowering to give herself a lackadaisical expression, "If that's okay to ask my oh-so fearless boss."

"My pad."

"Oh."

"It's not what you think, so don't even go there. I'mma drop her there and roll on to China to deal with these Jusenkyo motherfuckers," Yusuke said.

"Oh, Saotome told you about the time they came and kidnapped everyone with a curse," Nabiki rationalized.

"Right yer are, Miss Brainiac. I got the gist of those bitches from the little old hag and Ranma down at the cat café," Yusuke informed, "So now I got shit to do," He rubbed the side of his neck with a groan, "Though, there's a silver-lining here."

"And that would be?"

"I know how to make some loot."

Nabiki snapped to attention like a kid on a fieldtrip.

"Explain."

"I'll meet-cha tomorrow at Good burger. This method's win-win for us, I guarantee it," A smirking Yusuke assured, getting a nod from Nabiki, "Right now, I gotta take fire-head here and drop her ass home. Duty calls."

"Why not take Saotome with you? Did he fall aslee-." A look from Yusuke told her that was out of the question so she didn't even bother finishing, "You knocked him out?"

"Yeah."

"I suppose two hands ain't always as good as one," Nabiki quipped sarcastically.

"No, that ain't it."

Nabiki deadpanned an expression at her boss, "If that's the case I do wonder why Saotome is slung over your shoulder instead of flanked at your side," She wished she had never asked that question. The moment Yusuke lifted up his head, was the moment Nabiki was treated to the most creepiest ghostly smirk she had ever seen. It gave her the chills.

It was almost like Nabiki was looking at the undead.

"Cause after tonight the fishes will be getting new roommates."

In a deathly lifeless manner, Yusuke meandered past a spooked Nabiki, not even sparing the unnerved girl trembling in place a second glance; his first mission: to take Ranma to his home.

"And they call me cold."

Ranma's yang didn't need to see Yusuke's yin.

No one should.

It was… horrifyingly devilish.

XxX

(Elsewhere – Location Unknown – With Yusuke)

XxX

After dropping Ranma at his apartment and completing some much needed to-be-done chores, like tidying his messy apartment, taking a shower, and changing his gear among other things, the half-demon found himself in a familiar setting.

He felt like a runaway having returned home after a long absence. The place had a tranquillity feeling about it, though Yusuke guessed a year under Enki's reign would do that to a place. The guy was a pacifist through and through. It made him feel right at home.

"Feels like home," Yusuke mumbled, looking up at the reddish sky of the demon world, now garbed in a long-sleeved green unbuttoned dress shirt over a short-sleeved white t shirt, with a silver gun pendant wrapped around his neck; loose-fitting blue jeans, and a pair of white Nike trainers on his feet.

The colour green was for winners.

He took in the air through his nostrils and lungs, relishing being in the place of his lineage.

"Till' the same as it was the first time I arrived and got my ass ripped off, put into a parcel, and shipped off, only for it to be delivered on my doorstep by my old man," The thought of his deceased ancestral father brought a pang of sadness to his heart.

If only Yusuke had met Raizen earlier in his life. Maybe then he could've had a real father-figure in his life. Although his mother tried, she failed, as women couldn't teach boys how to be a man. That was left to the father.

Too bad Yusuke's biological father was a deadbeat, just like Ranma's.

Even still, a man could dream. He could dream of his rough adolescent days, but a divergence would happen in the form of the man's dad showing up on his doorstep, a familiar wolf-grin on his face.

The father would only have one thing on his mind, and that was to actually do things with his son, such as; play catch with him, scold him when he misbehaves, give him an allowance for doing chores, play video games with his boy, and of course give his son that man-to-man talk all fathers-and-sons ought to share.

The last and important thing a father should do was very simple yet so prominent; see his boy get married to the 'one'.

'Dad,' Yusuke wondered what Raizen's impression would've been of Keiko, though in the recess of his mind he couldn't help, but worry of what Ranma would think if she knew of his demonic heritage. Ugh. He didn't want to think of such things.

He lied to Ranma, telling her she was a liability just because he was scared to tell her he was going to kill all those people who wronged her in the past.

Yusuke banished the bad thoughts with a shake of his head.

It was neither here nor there: in the present.

"The hell with this touchy trip down memory-line, it's time to get shit done," The hard-man stated.

Yeah. Besides, emotions just made people look stupid.

Before Yusuke could walk off in search of an old companion, a subtle snap of a wooden stick caught his attention, before a reiki-signature of an S-class level caught his senses.

Yusuke wondered how he could've missed it. Was he really immersed in his deep thought for that long?"

"So, the snake returns to its lair," A voice devoid of any emotion rang throughout the air.

Yusuke coolly turned his head over his shoulder, a smirk playing on his lips at a short muscular man with the wildest aggressive hairstyle one would ever see. It was black and styled as a volcano, with a blue tint to it if one looked real close.

He sported a long cloak-like black jacket with a white collar, over a black sleeveless vest top, a pair of black pants tucked into his white boots. Though, his most noticeable clothing wasn't an actual piece of clothing, since they were just white bandages wrapped tightly around his forehead. At first glance of the short man one would think he was a villain.

His appearance was villainous.

"Hiei."

"Detective."

"_Former_ detective," Yusuke clarified, spinning around to face Hiei who stood atop of the tree branch with his arms concealed in his cloak, "…Motherfucker." His long-time friend wasn't amused, "Hey, when are ya gonna get outta that get-up, Hiei, the next century?"

"When Kuwabara comes the reigning champion of Makai."

"So, that's a no, then."

Hiei nodded.

"Thought so," Yusuke said, rubbing the back of his head a tad sheepishly.

"For what reason have you decided to come back here now of all times?" The full-blooded demon asked with impassive orbs staring at the former spirit detective, getting straight to the point.

"Dang, Hiei, you don't beat around the bush. Didn't even gimme a chance to tell you how my day's been," Yusuke said, digging out his ear with his index finger.

"I don't have time for games."

"So I see. Though you've struck rich here 'cause I ain't got time for a walk down reminiscent-line either," Yusuke stated.

"Hn." A nod from Hiei was all he got to go on.

"Bottom-line is, it involves me getting my hands dirty. So, my proposal to you is, are you also up for dirtying your hands, Hiei?" This was unexpected from the former detective. It was even enough to catch Hiei off-guard, yet the full-fledged demon welcomed this newfound bloodlust in his fellow demon.

A small devilish smirk appeared on Hiei's features, "Hehe. So the virgin's ready to pop his killing cherry."

"That's one way to put it, yeah," Yusuke mumbled, a mask of indifference on his face.

"What brought this on? Last time I checked I couldn't even kill the bad humans without upsetting the peace-keeper," Hiei said with an unmerciful chuckle.

"So I've changed, big whoop," Yusuke said with a hard, darkened look.

"Ah. That look, the anticipation of slaying a fool, I remember it all too well," Hiei could identity with Yusuke's need to murder people for his own reasons.

"Uh-Uh. So, are you up for putting on your work uniform and taking out the garbage?" Yusuke enquired, getting back to the task at hand.

Hiei's fiendish grin fell from his face, a calm, passive expression taking its place, "Sure," Hiei murmured, hopping down from the tree, skilfully landing next to Yusuke, "I'm intrigued to see how you handle your first killing spree. If I'm correct you should relish it like a true demon."

"'Course. I'll admit I'm kinda psyched for this myself," Yusuke said, a unmerciful chuckle breaking out of Hiei's lips, until Yusuke put his troll face on, "I've been thinkin' do we have to give those guys the kiss of death before we ice 'em? You know, like in the mafia."

"Don't make me regret this," With a flap of cloak-like jacket Hiei began making his way out of demon world.

"I wouldn't dream of it, now let's get shit done. These motherfuckers are up in Ranma's hair, the sooner they're gone is the sooner she can move forward with her life."

"Hn. So we have three fighters, and one of them is useless."

"Naw. I left her in the kitchen."

"Good. Leave the baggage where it belongs."

"I dunno about that. She's pretty tough."

"Then why isn't she here?"

The silence in the air half-answered Hiei's question, though the full-blooded demon turned to look at the half-demon, receiving a serious gaze from him in return which was the other half of the answer to the unspoken question.

"She's a goody-two-shoes."

"Yeah."

XxX

(Yusuke's apartment – Living Room – with Ranma)

XxX

"Aaaah!"

Ranma suddenly shot up, sweat covering his face, "Damn! What a crazy ass dream!" Replaying the 'dream' he experienced, he couldn't suppress the shudder and the blush which appeared on his face, "Lousy curse," He grumbled. Yeah, more like friggin' nightmare.

Surveying his surroundings, the pigtailed martial artist found himself in a living room/kitchen which appeared to have a balcony. It wasn't the most classiest of joints, since it neither had carpet nor tiled-flooring, but Ranma supposed a place to live was a place to live.

"Heh, better than 'nuthin," Even if it did have a Super Nintendo, Ranma observed, since the new _Nintendo 64_ had been released, "I must be at Yu-chan's," Thinking of his friend sent him into a rage, "Damn that jerk. Side-line me will he?" Ranma hopped to his feet, "I mean, who in the hell does he thinks he is, huh, the sheriff!" Ranma shook his head, "Hell-to-no, no effing way!"

"If Yu-chan thinks for one minute there's a snowball's chance in hell I'm gonna sit idly by like some A-class obedient housewife then he's dead wrong!" He cringed at his own words. Housewife? No thank you! Besides, Ranma was his own man, "He ain't the boss of me!"

"They better roll out the red carpet 'cause I'mma cruise down there and unleash a five thousand year old can of whoop ass on 'em quicker than Lisa Simpson passing a test!" Ranma roared, marching towards the door, "Heh," Ranma snickered, "They won't even know what hit 'em, I betcha! All I'm sayin' is, yer Jusenkyo-guys better double-check your life instances 'cause I'mma comin' for y'all!"

Before Ranma could complete his trek to the door, he stopped himself at the sight of a big pot on a cheap-looking, second-hand stove, "Huh?"

It took a second but he vaguely remembered something about Yusuke promising him a cooked meal, "Right. He owed me one, and another one, but I'mma let my fist take the debt for that one by introducing it to his face." But first Ranma was going to eat all of this food Yusuke had made.

The rude-boy just hoped Yusuke hadn't eaten yet because he was feeling a little spiteful, but who could blame him? That son-of-a-bitch called him a liability, then kicked his rear-end to the curb! Just reliving the painful experience in his mind made Ranma sad, and when he got depressed, he got mad, as a way to cope with the sadness.

Who said he needed therapy, defence mechanisms worked perfectly well, hail them!

"Meh. Oh well, screw him, I'mma dig in," Ranma said cheerfully, lifting up the cover on the pot to a reveal a bunch of noodles, and chicken, doused in a brown watery liquid, and a bunch of vegetables, like onions, carrots, red peppers, and lattice.

"Woah. Looks like the bomb," Ranma said to himself with a gleeful, roguish smile, looking around for a spoon before opening a couple of drawers, finally finding where the cutlery was. He took out a spoon and went back to the pot where he dipped the spoon in.

He brought the spoon out with a mouthful of ramen on it before messily shoving the spoon into his mouth. He chewed, making humming noises to portray his pleasure.

"Woah. I gotta say, for a douche Yu-chan sure is one mean cook. My mouth's practically a runnin' waterfall here," Ranma quipped, "Better than tomboy's cookin' for sure." He snorted, but like who wasn't better than Akane at cooking.

XxX

(Somewhere Else – Whereabouts – Undisclosed)

XxX

Around the region of China laid a hangout of sorts propped on top of a massive mountain, looking like a business-like estate with comprehensive-sized double steel doors, two bland, unmemorable looking guards standing before it; the kind of guards one would find working at a jewellery store or Asda.

Stepping within the fortress-esque building and seeing the following colliders, one would have to come to the conclusion a cave was turned into a mansion, for it did have around about ten huge pictures of ten formidable warriors.

Within a particular room was a massive table fit for five people to sit on other sides on wheelie-spinning chairs, though nine of the ten warriors sitting around the table were awake in this instance.

This was also a fifty inch plasma screen-esque surveillance monitor behind the vice-captain, showing scenes of the inside and one of the outside world.

"Gentlemen," The vice-chairman began, taking charge in the absence of his chairman.

A chorus of 'Ahems' echoed throughout the air.

"And ladies," He corrected himself, the three aforementioned ladies nodding their heads in recognition of being called out, "I've called for this meeting-."

"The second one in two weeks," A gruffly, deep sounding voice clarified abruptly, sounding thoroughly annoyed. He was a tall man of a lean muscular posture with wide broad shoulders. His eyes, while an emerald colour, appeared uninteresting.

He was garbed in a green Chinese-hat, a green cloth covering the lower half of his face; a green kimono jacket, held closed by a black sash; green hakama, wooden sandals, and in fact the only other piece of clothing on his person not green happened to be the silver-ish steeled armour on the upper half of his body.

The vice-chairman didn't take kindly to being interrupted, "Yes, Hachirou, thank you for your clar-."

"Aw, don't be like that Hachirou-kun! I, for one, like these get-together of ours," But unfortunately the vice-chairman was cut off again, this time by the voice of a cheerful-sounding middle-aged man.

The grey spots on his short goatee, sideburns, and the two chunks of hair sticking out of the sides of his purple hat shown he was reaching the end of his youth. Though he was tiny, he was rather chubby, wearing an all purple-suit.

The vice-chairman was gnashing his teeth, "Please, I'm trying to-."

"I would rather not be here. No offense, it's not that I don't like you, Jiro, it's just that we don't have much in common," Hachirou said, "Besides that I just want to get back to watching a documentary on wildlife. It interests me how animals adapt to survive."

"Aw, that's nice. You hear that guys? Hachirou-kun likes me!" Jiro chirped, flipping up and over the heads of his fellow star-elites to land next to Hachirou, wrapping an arm around his neck, "You know what we should do to celebrate? Go out for a beer. Yeah, that's the manly thing to do."

"Can I finis-?"

"Hm. If I get the time, Jiro," Hachirou said. It was a mystery whether he said that just to move forward with the conversation, so Jiro would hopefully stop pestering him, or because he actually 'cared' about his comrade and didn't wish to hurt his feelings.

"Aw, you always say that!" Jiro pouted.

"Oh, Jiro-dear, I think dear boss would like to finish this meeting sometime before the next millennium begins," An alluring feminine voice of a light skinned lady lured, getting a nod out of Jiro, before the man ventured back to his sit.

The woman's brown hair was neatly done up, kept up in a stylish ponytail by two chopsticks; her beautiful violet orbs were just as tempting as her voice.

She dressed classy, sporting a dazzling rosy red Chinese blouse with a matching red skirt which reached past her knees, black leggings underneath her skirt, and a pair of black high-heels on her feet.

The vice-chairman smiled endearingly at the woman, "Much obliged, Sachiko. And might I just say you're loo-."

"Though, I have no earthly idea why Hachirou-san chooses to watch a documentary on a bunch of smelly animals, I much rather prefer to watch the soaps myself," Sachiko interrupted, putting a fuming look on the vice-chairman's face.

"It's a good show, with a wide variety of interesting animals. In particular I find the bear most relatable to myself," Hachirou murmured, crossing his arms over his broad chest.

Sachiko let out a long drawled out drone, but never stopped spectating her nails, her very long, red painted nails, "Could that be because the bear's a socially awkward animal, hun?" She didn't get an answer, "Never mind, personal preference I suppose."

"Hm."

"That was quite harsh of you, though, Sachiko," Commented an obese middle-aged man with a buzz-cut. He was dressed in diaper-esque white pants, with a long-sleeved black t shirt yet had no shoes on his feet.

Sachiko turned to the sumo-wrestler, a smirk on her red-painted lips, "Whatever do you mean, Tabemono-san? I'm afraid I don't quite comprehend what was so unpleasantly jarring about the conversation Hachirou and I was having. I found it rather civil if I do say so myself, hun."

The vice-chairman grunted furiously at the cheek of the tae-kwon-do expert.

"You and I both know that's not the point," Tabemono pointed out, very much tolerating Sachiko's altitude.

The brown-haired beauty shrugged, going back to spectating her nails, "I suppose that can serve as a lesson to him and remind him not to be a pervert."

"I guess," Tabemono said awkwardly, his voice low.

"Can I just please say what I've called you all here to hear, PLEASE?" The vice-chairman enquired, raising his voice at the end.

"With all due respect boss, go right ahead," A sort of short tanned man said in a very high-pitched tone of voice, wearing a white sleeveless muscled top underneath a zipped-up black-biker leather jacket with tight leather gloves on his hands.

Regardless of the biker look he seemed to be going with, he contradicted that with a pair of blue adidas tracksuit pants, adidas trainers on his feet and even had on a blue adidas cap on his head.

"Yeah, like, the sooner we get out of here is the sooner me and Tabe can pig out in an all-you-can-eat five-star luxury restaurant. I'm starved," A hippy-sounding man voiced.

He had shoulder-lengthened light brown hair, stubble around his chin, sideburns, and his eyes were of a chocolate brown colour. He sported a baggy purple short-sleeved t shirt which looked a tad too big on his skinny posture, dark brown jeans, and a pair of boots on his feet.

Tabemono groaned. He enjoyed eating but damn his friend was always hungry, and always brought enough food to feed a family of five. Just how the heck he stayed so skinny was beyond the other members of the Jusenkyo Preservation Society's (JPS') top soldiers' comprehensions.

"I do wonder how you stay so slim but eat so much, Gurubi-hun," Sachiko said, interrupting the vice-captain yet again, "Just throwing it out there."

"Like far-out, it's just one of the many mysteries of the world," Gurubi said with a cheesy grin.

"No, it's not. You just happen to conveniently have a big appetite with a black hole for a stomach, Shady," Tabemono rationalized, getting a grin from Gurubi, aka Shady.

"That's enough now everyone," The vice-captain said, feeling irritated being ignored so many times, "Now I just wanted to say the Mr S prototype has not returned from the mission it was sent on."

"Is that all?" A bespectacled short dark-skinned, black haired girl asked, with her hair cornrowed, wearing a white vest top, over a black sports bra, covering her modest b-cup breasts, blue pants with white stripes running down the legs, and white Nike trainers on her feet.

She looked extremely tomboyish, but like her fellow members in Shady, and Jiro she too wore purple in the form of a Nike purple opened hoody.

"_Yes_, Chiyuki, that's it. He hasn't returned, meaning more than likely the criminals are still out there!" The vice-captain growled, speaking through the grit of his teeth which further emphasized his annoyance with the cocky rude-girl.

Chiyuki had her arms crossed over her chest, clearly holding contempt for the fallen robot, "As if dat's important. Most of us already guessed dat lousy robot would be taken out in a matter of days anyway."

"Like far out, someone actually beat the doc's invention?" Well, not everyone. This was news to Shady, "Zoinks, like, I'd hate to meet that guy in a dark volley."

"It must have been that damned she-boy!" A crazed unstable voice spoke up. The very muscular man with a Hercules-esque built was by far the tallest one with only Hachirou coming close to his height. He had wide broad shoulders, reddish sunburned skin, and sported an-all purple suit complete with a purple hat on his head and a katana in hand.

"Just let me at him, I'll tear him asunder!" The swordsman boomed.

"Oh, yes, because your last attempt ended so well, Kinnii-hun," Sachiko practically purred, sarcasm lacing in her voice.

"Shut up! He just got lucky is all! If he hadn't had cheated I would've destroyed him and fed him to the fishes!" Kinnii bellowed.

"So unmannered," Commented a feminine voice of a dark-skinned man, with bushy afro hair that was all twinkly and sparkly, split into two parts by a hair-bobble. He had funky pink square glasses over his eyes, a silver shiny top which looked ready to blind everyone in the near vicinity; furthermore the top was short, not even reaching his belly button.

A pair of tight black pants, similar to the ones wrestlers wore, and sandals completed his appearance.

"Oh, what a shame, if you would only learn some manners, you would be quite the catch, Kinnii-boo," He said alluringly.

Kinnii growled belligerently at the transvestite, "Do not speak as if I would ever become what you are, freak!"

"And do tell what you think Emi is, Kinnii," Sachiko urged, giving Kinnii a hard stare as if daring him to mock the transvestite again.

"You of all people should know what that _freak _is, _woman_!" Kinnii resorted.

"You do know what indiscrimination is, right 'Kinns?" The biker/gangsta wannabe squeaked, "Because you're indiscriminating Emi now, heck, you indiscriminate him all the time. It's neither right nor nice. He's a nice guy, you know," He got a grateful smile from the aforementioned feminine man in return.

"Thank you, Masato, it's reassuring to know such respectful and kind men like yourself exist in this cruel world. It's just, so hard living the way my heart desires me to without eyes judging me for being myself from afar," Emi said melodramatically, tears building up at the corners of his eyes.

Sachiko wrapped her friend up in a hug, "Oh honey, you have nothing to feel ashamed about," She said soothingly, rubbing his back before lifting up his head, wiping the tears out of his eyes, "Look at me, hun, and listen well; you are a strong and independent male any woman would just die for."

Emi sniffed, "Please you're too kind to me Sachiko-chan, but I fear I'll never be as dazzling as yourself."

"Oh honey, your beauty supersedes mine any-day," Sachiko assured.

"Oh you can't possibly mean that."

"Oh, yes I do."

Kinnii's eye was twitching, "Would you cut that out!? We came here to discuss what to do with those criminals, not fuss about whom prettier between a woman and a wannabe woman!"

"I'm with Kinnii, bitches can go gossip and shop after we're through here," Chiyuki said.

"Oh, you have some nerve to speak of us in such an uncivilized manner, you harlot," Sachiko snapped.

"So I did, what are ya going to do about it princess, call daddy?"

"Oh, I'll do more than that. It'll be a bother, but I suppose I could lower myself just this once to teach a scoundrel proper manners."

"Who're ya callin' a scoundrel, you spoiled brat?"

"Hmm, so the bum finally reveals her true colours, how jarring," Sachiko purred sardonically, "Well, I suppose that was to be expected. Your kind are often found in a penal institution where you belonged my dear," Sachiko taunted with a condescending smile on her face.

"Uhm, Sachiko-chan, I think you should stop provoking Chiyuki-boo, now," Emi urged quietly, gesturing nervously to the fuming Chiyuki.

"Come on guys, we're all friends here! We shouldn't fight each other, we should be fighting the bad-guys!" Jiro stated cheerfully.

"Shaddap, dumbass, and stay out of it. I'mma give Princess here the beating she's never got!" Chiyuki shouted, shooting up to her feet and rolling her sleeves up.

"Oh, please, honey, sit yourself back down, before you embarrass yourself, and the rest of your trailer-trash family," Sachiko said, looking at her nails.

"This can't be happening," The vice-chairman groaned in desperation.

Fate either had it in for him or it wanted to throw him a bone depending on which two sides he looked at the spectrum. The entire building underwent an earthquake from something extremely brutal blowing apart, causing the vice-captain and Gurubi to nearly jump out of their skins.

"Zoinks!"

XxX

(Moments Before)

"Halt! Who goes there! State your business or prepare to be apprehended!" The guards snapped to attention at the sight of two figures, both men by the looks of things, appearing over the horizon, casually treading up the slope leading to the company-building. That alone warranted alarm-bells.

You don't just waltz up to one of the most secretive businesses in the world unless you either had an appointment or an arranged meeting on some boss-thing, especially considering the fact a handful of the earth's most proficient martial artists appeared to be within the building.

It was very strange indeed.

However, it only got suspicious, since the two trespassers neither slowed their stride or quickened their pace upon hearing the guard's command, almost as if they never heard him. That, or they did, and simply chose to ignore him as if he were irrelevant to the task at hand.

The guards didn't take kindly to being ignored like they were both surplus.

"I said halt and state your busi-."

A thread of long red tinted paint-like liquid falling in between his eyes made him pause in his speech.

"Huh? What's this? Bloo-?"

A straight long line appeared straight down their bodies, before the two sides of their bodies separated; resulting in blood gushing out of their severed bodies like an out of controlled shower.

The green-clad man was able to foresee the short one's movements, "Damn Hiei, you don't fuck about. You didn't even give the poor saps a chance to give us their names to put in our little books."

"Hn. I didn't come here to play around with canon-fodder," Hiei said.

Yusuke smirked, "Course. Ain't no need to bother ourselves with small fries," Hiei grunted in agreement before looking at the massive double doors with an air of indifference about him along with Yusuke, who had his arms folded across his chest, "So, this is the place."

"You tell me."

"The old hag did say these motherfuckers come from China, this is China, and I can feel nine-dudes around Sensui's level of power," Yusuke observed, "Not exactly, but close enough."

"Hn." Hiei's expression darkened at the mention of the human whom had temporarily killed Yusuke. Hiei had to hand it to Sensui, though, because if it wasn't for him Yusuke would never have been resurrected, thus never had awakened his demonic-lineage, enabling him to live infinitely, at least until someone kills him.

"We should get this over with," Hiei murmured, "The longer the inevitable's avoided the harder it becomes to go through with it."

"If I didn't know any better I would say you were tryin' to comfort me," Yusuke teased.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Hiei demanded harshly.

"Oh nothin'."

"Whatever," Hiei grumbled, the sound of a cutting knife swiping through the air echoed, the full-fledged demon now wielding a katana in his hand.

As Hiei adjusted himself in a stance to slice-and-dice the doors to smithereens, he was stopped by a film grip on his shoulder-blade.

"Allow me," Yusuke suggested, cracking his knuckles with a smirk.

"Hn. Suit yourself," Hiei simply sheathed his sword for the time being.

"Appreciate it," Yusuke said coolly, rolling up to the mountain-like doors of the building and setting himself in a sideways stance, almost as if he were about to perform a Kamehameha, "Andddddd-." The suspense was mounting and Yusuke snapped his arm forward like a slingshot, his fist colliding with the doors and blowing them completely off of the hinges.

"-TIMBERRRRRRRR!"

The doors flew back before hitting the walls, cracking the walls, and shaking the entire Fortress.

Yusuke and Hiei merely rode into the building, Yusuke covering his mouth with his arm at the dust which permeated across the hallways, "Coulda went better, but hey, if that doesn't act as a drill alarm than I don't know what will," Yusuke said, surveying the hallways.

Despite the smashed, curved up doors which Yusuke had blown into the massive corridor it was quite the posh place, if only for the expensive looking portraits.

"Fancy get-up," Yusuke mumbled, looking at the pictures while he and Hiei began making their way to the nearest reiki-signature they could feel.

"Hn." Hiei grunted. He wasn't particularly fond of such trivial things, he just wanted to do what he came here to do.

Though, it seemed Hiei didn't have to wait long, "Heads-up, someone's coming." Yusuke stated, a serious expression on his face.

Light dulling, but purposeful footsteps caught Hiei's and Yusuke's ears, the two not stopping their strides until they could see a shadowy figure up in the distance.

When the figure drew closer the lights were finally hit on in the darkened hallway, revealing a woman of average height with midnight blue hair falling to her shoulders, a pair of reading glasses over her eyes. She wore a black blouse underneath a long black trench coat, with navy blue pants, and blue shoes.

What really caught Yusuke's attention was the nasty looking rifle sheathed to the woman's back.

"So this is the first fool to get in our way," Hiei muttered.

"So it seems," Yusuke said with an expression that betrayed none of his thoughts.

"I'm surprised," The woman said.

"Oh," Yusuke said, "And why is that? Enlighten the class why don't cha."

"I thought the criminals had decided to make our jobs easier by coming to us," She said.

"And those 'law-breaking evildoers' would be?" Yusuke enquired rhetorically.

"Ranma Saotome – guilty of shamelessly exposing himself in cursed form - Ryoga Hibiki – guilty of breaking the code of duplicitous conduct – Genma Saotome – guilty of breaking the code of public safety; threatening the health and wellbeing of innocent bystanders – and Mousse - guilty of breaking the fair play rule with his murderous intent."

"Nice list. Did'ya come up with it yourself, or did mama help ya?" Yusuke mocked.

The bookworm girl decided to ignore the teenage boy's quip, "Needless to say, rules are rules, and must be upheld at all costs. Even if these criminals choose to hire rouge assassins to take us out for their own safety, it shall not matter in the end. You'll both be disposed of, simple as that."

Yusuke coolly spat saliva from his mouth, "Ooo, how _frightening. _No, really, you've got my legs shaking like jelly," He snorted sarcastically, "Hiei, leave this bitch to me."

"Just don't take too long."

"Don't worry, I'll have her ass thrown to the curb faster than Homer Simpson falling asleep on the job," Yusuke said, sauntering forward with his fists clenched tightly at his sides.

The woman looked slightly amused that they weren't going to take her on together, "Oh? One-on-one is it? How honourable."

"Yeah right," Yusuke blew that off, "That maybe his thing, but me?" Yusuke jerked a thumb in Hiei's direction, "-I just like throwin' down!" He quickened his pace towards the woman.

"That arrogance of yours, I find myself rather fond of it. Thanks, this'll make my job so much easier," She pulled the rifle from her back and let loose a shot.

The bullet exploded from the barrel, shrouding the entrance with stream. Unfortunately for the girl, Yusuke was easily able to dodge the bullet by dancing to the side.

She scowled in frustration, trying to let off another shot but before she could she felt a firm grip on her wrist. She looked to the side, snarling at the green clad man entrapping her wrist.

'He's fas-.' That was all she could think before being violently thrown into the wall, getting panicked into it.

"It's done."

"Finish her."

"What's the point? I'm just wastin' air on her as it is," Yusuke said.

"Fine," Hiei conceded, walking up to Yusuke, "Let's move on. I'll be taking the next one."

"Fine by m-."

"D-Do you think this is over?" The defeated girl asked in a painful, strained voice, just barely managing to dig herself out of the hole in the wall, her rifle severed into two pieces.

"Lemme think, hmm, duh, obviously, considering that I just panicked your ass into the wall," Yusuke said, turning his back on the woman in disdain, considering the fight as good as over with, "Now do us all a favour and scram!"

The woman chuckled in a creepy manner, "You know, I don't know whether to call you arrogant or naïve if you believe you can just walk up in here, flex your muscles, and we'll all kindly do as you say, no questions asked!"

"Excuse me," Yusuke asked darkly, but the sound of clicking clocks piercing his ear-drums cut him off, "That sounds like a…"

"Of course," The woman flung open her jacket, revealing multiple clock-like bombs tucked into her hidden-pockets, "I already surrendered my life away the moment I signed up with the Jusenkyo Preservation Society."

"Dang. You were on borrowed time all along," Yusuke said.

"DIE!"

She ran towards Hiei and Yusuke with the resolved to take them down with her.

XxX

(Meanwhile – Vice-chairman's office)

The vice-chairman gleefully leaped out of his seat at the sight of the subsequent explosion which abruptly caused an cave-in, said cave-in completely blocking off the entrance.

"Ha! That'll teach those brats a thing or two," The vice-chairman laughed, though he calmed down as he remembered his employee's sacrifice, "It's just unfortunate that we had to lose Ayano to kill those brats off, but what are you going to do? She knew what she was signing herself up for the moment she put pen to paper."

Though Kinnii wasn't convinced that was enough to take out those two weird children or whatever they were. He sure as hell knew the cheating she-boy had hired them to protect him, _the scum. _

Imaging his cocky smirk as he splashes ice-cold water on him to exploit his weakness burned Kinnii up inside. How dare Ranma make a fool out of him!

'I'll kill him! I'll kill him! I'll kill him!' Kinnii mused, an unstable glint in his eye, bringing his sword to his mouth to lick the blade, 'I'm tear him asunder and feed him to the fishes, preferably with some melted cheese on top! Hahahahahahahahahahaha!'

The vice-chairman noticed Kinnii's laughter of insanity, and looked on awkwardly, "So I take it you're ready to push the cr-."

"Woah. Talk about a die-hard. At least we know where their loyalties lie."

The vice-captain gasped at being cut off by the strange brash intruder's voice.

"What? How could he survive that?" He asked in shock, gaping at the screen to see the two standing unscratched, "And the other one too! Just who are those two?"

"It doesn't matter!" Kinnii roared, "Let them come because as soon as they do, I'll rip off their bones and feed them to the wolves!"

The vice-chairman patted his face with a handkerchief he brought from his pocket, "Yes, how could I forget about your expertise Kinnii? The fools have only walked into a death trap by coming here. Not to mention they've still got to get past the others first. They're waiting for them at their posts."

Kinnii's face twisted into a grimace at the sight of drool on the desk, "All except one!"

"Huh?" The vice-chairman looked at the desk, his eyes popping out at the sight of a man with his head propped on the desk, trying to catch some Z's, "Kazumu! What are you doing? You supposed to be in position stopping the intruders!"

Kazumu lifted up his head, revealing a blurry-eyed, stoned look in ocean blue eyes. His chocolate brown hair was long, falling past his shoulders. He donned a white long-sleeved dress shirt with the collar turned upwards, underneath a waist-high navy blue jacket, a pair of dark blue jeans, and black shoes on his feet.

"Uh," He grunted languidly, "It's too early for this."

"You should be on the job, you lazy ass," Kinnii growled.

"Oh come on, I know what you're like. You don't want me interfering in your fight. You want to take out the invaders on your own," Kazumu said.

"That doesn't mean you should be sleeping on the job," The vice-chairman complained, "Get to your pos-."

"Leave him be!" Kinnii suggested belligerently, "It doesn't matter because in the end I'll be the one to punish those intruders before finding the criminals and teaching them painfully to control their curses! Hahahahahahahahaha!"

"Could this night get any worse?"

* * *

><p><strong>Before I sign off, I just wanted to share something with you guys. You see I received a 'review' from this individual, and you know what? Check it out. <strong>

'Ugh, really?! You had something really, REALLY good going on here. Do you have any idea just how rare it is to find some quality Ranma-xovers? Yours was definitely looking to be one of those rare few. And now you go and pull this crap! Using a convenient genderbender and turning the two main boys gay! That COMPLETELY spoils this entire story and I just can't read any further than this because of that! Great job ruining what otherwise could've been a masterpiece, moron!'

** I just found this amusing to say the least considering the fact nothing intimate has happened between Yusuke-sama and girl-Ranma. At all. it leaves this 'review' feeling melodramatic, unless the person counts a peck on a girl's cheek as 'homosexual' (pulls a face)...**

**Seem people need to realize many fans consider Ranma a girl like they consider Haku one, just for the simple fact Ranma _is_ a girl, half the time anyway, there's no questions about it. Besides that it's amusing as all hell seeing this would-be-macho fa****ll for an authentic hard-man despite herself.**

**Great authors like Rivyn Daniel - Kirinin - Ozzallos are all fans of girl-Ranma-fics, till' they've gotta deal with that nonsense (points upward). In Ozzallos's case he paired girl-Ranma with Kuno and made it fantastically believeable. I shit you not. Girl-Ranma got with Kuno and it was believeable. Kunoification. Read it. Nuff said. Oh well. The guy's one doing himself a disservice with an attitude like that.  
><strong>

**That's the internet for ya folks, it's full of trolls. Youtubers such as King-of-Lightning and Sawyer have to put up with flames and shit whenever they have something negative to say about Naruto. The damage control is immense.**

**Besides that I'm currently in the workings of writing a YuYu Hakusho/Dragon Ball Z crossover, because there isn't enough of them, good ones anyway, starring Yusuke Urameshi as the main character, obviously. Basically the premise is after the Demon world tournament subsides, Yusuke returns home, gets into arguments with his mother, which eventually leads to her throwing him out of her house. **

**He moves to West City, gets himself a cheap apartment, and a minimum-paid job, probably at Good Burger again, I ain't decided. Yajirobe meets Yusuke at his workplace and asks him to join in the fight against the Saiyans, to which the anti-hero Yusuke declines, because he laments his shitty low-paid job, and low-life existence, and would rather welcome the apocalypse. Yusuke only jumps into action to avenge Kuwabara's death at the hands of Nappa. **

**After that only Vegeta can kill Urameshi. If anyone touches him... shit just got real.**


	11. Vengeance Is a Girl's Best Friend

**Disclaimer: I don't own YuYu Hakusho or Ranma 1/2**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 11<strong>

**Vengeance Is a Girl's Best Friend**

*An annoying cunt*

An obnoxious weird sounding alarm echoed out in a high-tech laboratory, which also had a massive 50-inch plasma screen-like monitor so the man rushing to gather all his belongings and invaluable notes, and chemicals could keep a track of the intruders' whereabouts.

"Mad science shall live on!"

A light-skinned slender man standing at roughly 174cm tall crazily shouted, swivelling his head, kindling a rattle of his wavy messy black hair. He had stubble situated on his chin, small sideburns on the sides of his cheeks, a pair of thick spiral-patterned glasses over his eyes, with a faded green collared shirt with black strips, underneath a long white lab coat, matching his loose-fitting white trousers, and a pair of shoes fitted on his feet.

"Hmm, yes, that'll do nicely," The insane man quickly spoke to himself, grabbing a greenish substance inside of a bottle and shoving it inside of a brief case, "The intruders, a rowdy bunch I hear. Well, they shall not stop me. No-No-No-No. I shall continue my mad science in solitude, yes, completing my new-and-improved robot with no miscalculations on my part this time."

The mad doctor would admit it was a mistake to send out the Mr S prototype, though in his defence he didn't expect the cursed criminal to be at such a level. He just couldn't wait to bask in the rewards of his hard work.

The doctor always had a fetish for inventing new things, projects which could be productive to the planet. He first got the idea to take matters into his own hands five years ago, when an 'earthquake' shook the very planet to the core. After many months of research he discovered the cause of the earthquake.

It was made by a man known as Shinobu Sensui.

With his kind of power the authorities were powerless against him.

Although Sensui was no longer among the living it got the mad doc thinking – what if there was another Sensui? What if one came to rule the world? What if the man himself came back from the dead to get his revenge for his demise? The world would be royally screwed. It needed a hero.

But he wasn't a hero; he was an inventor, known as a mad doctor.

So he thought why not create an artificial human with power toppling even that of Sensui's? It could work! Don't you see? People laugh at him, not even his own comrades who were as close to base Sensui's power without actually reaching it had little respect for him.

The joke was on them, though, because they were all dying like flies, while he was preparing for a _mad_ escape. He would live and carry on his legacy, finding some way to do the impossible: build a robot with power toppling even the prestigious rank of S-class.

"Yes, yes, Doctor Madman will save the world!"

XxX

(With Yusuke and Hiei)

XxX

As Yusuke and Hiei ambled throughout the long cave-like corridor, passing a portrait of a guy whose fashion sense was totally messed up; they barely even moved a muscle upon obnoxiously being greeted with a deep masculine voice when they came to the end of the hall.

"**Sneak attack**!" Masato called out, his voice sounding oddly deep and masculine. Though, as he leapt from the right to ambush Hiei and Yusuke, his voice instantly went squeaky again from the feeling of a soaring sharp pain being driven directly into his neck.

"My neck, man, my neck!"

"He suddenly hit high not-."

"**My fucking neck**!"

"And publicity came back to him."

Hiei impassively ghosted past the ferocious Masato, sheathing his bloody sword, "I'll take the right."

"Sure. Then I'll take the straight-path," Yusuke opted, casually sauntering past a slack-jawed Masato.

"What! Do you think I'm just gonna let you two go!?" Masato squeaked enquiringly, "Well, you're wrong! Now get back here so we can finish this fight!"

"Redundant," Hiei murmured.

"Why?"

"Because you've been dead for thirty seconds."

"Wha-?" It was then the lines around Masato's body became visible, his red body fluids beginning to ooze from his body. Panic could only overwhelm his expression - for he didn't even get the time to scream – before every last piece of flesh and body part of him scattered, falling to the ground like cubes of ice, only with crimson blood, not colourless water permeating around them.

"Sliced-and-Diced like swish cheese," Hiei grunted in agreement with Yusuke's witty assessment, "Well, I'll go this way; you go that-O-way."

"Just make sure you do your share of the grind work," Hiei said.

"Course."

XxX

(The vice-chairman's office)

"Oh no!" The vice-chairman winced horrifyingly, "I couldn't even see that juvenile delinquent move."

"That little guy's obviously the most dangerous one!" Kinnii rationalized, stomping towards the door on the far right hand side of the office, "I'll intercept him and cut him to ribbons, hahahahahahahaha!"

"Yeah, how I could forget. With you on our side our victory is inevitable!" Kinnii grinned at the vice-chairman in a hysteria fashion before marching through the door, his goal, to find and to kill the little intruder.

"Yes, these juvenile delinquents don't stand a chance against any of our stronger soldiers, even-." The vice-chairman cut himself off at the sight of Kazumu sleeping again, "Kazumu! Would you wake up! The intruders have just separated!"

Kazumu groaned lazily, waving his hand dismissively, "Hm. So, what? Let them come. Kinnii will deal with them."

"You don't understand! He's gone off to intercept the small one, but what about the other one!"

"Then the others will deal with him. Sheesh, boss, you're worrying over nothing."

"Grrr. That's it! For that! You're getting a pay-cut!"

"Aw, man, what a drag."

XxX

(With Yusuke)

"You can drop the ninja act. I know where you are, just so you know," Yusuke called out to seemingly no-one in particular after reaching an open area.

From the other corridor, opposite of the one Yusuke had walked out of, a man walked out, dressing very womanish, "Ah, so you've come, boo. I must say, out of all the men the criminals could've sent to bring us down you're not bad-looking, quite fetching if I do say so myself."

"Uh-uh," Yusuke responded, not quite sure what to say, "Raw, best compliment I've got all day, even if I don't bend that way, no offense by the way-."

"Emi," Emi introduced himself, "And none taken. I, myself, find men to be such undignified brutes, unable to get in touch with their feminine-sides."

"So you don't want dicks, then."

"Oh, heaven's no, boo. You men are just too… rough for my liking."

"Okay," Yusuke dropped the matter, letting his arms fall to the sides, "Gotta say, you don't seem too bad. Why don't cha head-on outta here and allow me to shut down this screwed-up company, preserving my ass-," He muttered underneath his breath, "Whaddya say?"

The transvestite looked amused by the intruder's offer, "Oh, I take it that's a threat. How flattening, dearie, but I fear I'm going to have to decline your offer. You're trying to disrupt the peace and tranquillity of our planet by allowing such barbarians to roam free. You can see the problem here," Emi shook his head, one hand on his hip, "Do I even need to say you've already declared war on us by killing two of our comrades, unless, they took your offer, and left, which I highly doubt they did."

"Yeah," Yusuke frowned, "I woulda left the girl alive, hell, I was going to, simply by cruising away from her, but she was a die-hard, 'cause she committed suicide in an attempt to take me out with her. Needless to say, that went as smoothly as Bart Simpson taking a test."

"But of course," Emi said, giggling at the reference made by Yusuke, "Most of us here are committed to the cause. We would gladly give up our lives if it means keeping the beauty of this world intact!" Emi dashed towards Yusuke with a wide grin, "~Now then, let us see how you do, boo~."

"I was afraid of that," Yusuke grumbled, sighing in reluctance to what must be done.

Emi leaped forward, leading with his fist to smack Yusuke in the face.

He became perplexed, the young man seemingly vanishing out of existence like he wasn't even there to begin with. Emi stiffened, a dark, deadly serious voice echoing quietly, but intensely into his ear, giving him the chills.

"You sure about this, you know, it's not too late to take the easy option?

"And that would be boo?" Emi was playing dumb.

Yusuke decided to play along, "Walk away, don't look back, and never even consider coming to Nerima to harm those with curses. Simple. Really. Wouldn't you agree?"

Emi chuckled girlishly, "Oh, you are the smartass, aren't you? Unfortunately for you, even if you let me go, it won't stop me from hunting down the criminals, and putting each of them to rest like the dogs they are, as it's my job to preserve the beauty of this world," Emi's face turned serious, "Boo, I suggest you not underestimate my loyalty to Jusenkyo Preservation Society. The only way you're getting me to leave here is in a body-bag…"

"I was afraid of that too," Yusuke repeated, caressing his forehead in annoyance.

A knife appeared from inside the sleeve of Emi's shirt and into his hand, "Now then-," He spun around, lunging the knife towards Yusuke's face, "Which one of us will walk on alive and which will not."

Yusuke calmly sidestepped Emi's attack, while his right foot was being encased in a blue ball, "Not me." The instance Emi turned around, was the moment he received a body-eradicating kick to his gut. Literally.

His body exploded from the intensity of Yusuke driving his spirit energy-enhanced foot into his abdomen.

"And another one bites the dust. Shit." Yusuke lamented slightly, scratching the back of his head while a cloud of smoke obscured his vision from the explosion of him taking out Emi with one spirit kick. Yusuke dropped his arms to his sides, and let out a heavy sigh.

"Sure hope Hiei is havin' more fun than I am over here at least."

XxX

(With Hiei)

The full-fledged demon neared the end of his own corridor, with the only difference being the only other corridor in this section was on the left hand side instead of in the centre.

He ignored the altering corridors in flavour of more pressing issues.

"Who goes there?" Hiei demanded, giving the pathway he was going to take before sensing a reiki-signature on an A-class level an icy-cold stare.

Once those words left his mouth, the little demon could feel the ground underneath his feet shaking from mini tremors. He neither flinched nor blinked when an overweight man came stomping in the typical way sumo wrestlers would.

Upon making his way in the centre of the middle part of the corridor - inches away from the small intruder - Tabemono lifted up one of his huge chubby legs, before flattening it down, shaking the section of the corridor. He did the same with the other one before giving Hiei a determined stare.

"So you managed to get this far, did you? How impressive. Judging by your facial features, you're clearly not one of the criminals who had been abusing their curses for their own criminal activities. So, I have to wonder, for what reason have you decided to infiltrate our place of operations? Are you a bodyguard for hire meant to protect the criminals?" Tabemono enquired.

"What's it to you? You're on borrowed time anyway," Hiei retorted coolly.

"Hmm, arrogant I see," Tabemono observed, shaking his head, "Fine. Let's just get to this," He held up his hands, thrusting them forwards, and inwards, firing one arm than the other as if they were cannons, and each resoundingly soared from his open palms like rockets.

Hiei stood his ground motionlessly, yet a dark purple satanic aura submerged from his body, shielding him from the airwaves, which were wrecking up the corridor behind him.

The ground began to quake, the rubble from the ceiling was falling apart at the scenes, as it collapsed in on itself, blocking off Hiei's entrance to whence he came from.

"I've been working here for twenty years, helping to keep order and balance in the world. I shall not succumb to a criminal, nor will I let a criminal take this company down!" Tabemono preached passionately, continuously slamming his palms forward, his face a mask of intensity.

He had lost count how many times he had pushed his arms forwards, creating devastation in their wake and rending the corridor absolutely useless, but he guessed he had done so a lot, just for the simple fact he could no longer feel himself doing so.

Tabemono was positive he was speedily shoving his arms in a forward motion for the simple fact air-cannon-like waves were still being materialized from his palms, pushing the intruder back, and pounding his flesh into bloody smithereens.

'That should do it. Humph. The criminals have some nerve sending rouge assassins here. They're scums of the highest calibre,' Tabemono thought with a huff, his air cannon-waves slowly dying out from what seemed to be their own accord.

Like. Wait. What-?

"Justice doesn't need the likes of you."

Tabemono gasped, eyes wide at the dark statement, "How'd you-?" He cut himself off in debrief, turning his head over his shoulder to see the full-blooded demon standing (unscratched) behind him with his back turned, hands still coolly tucked underneath the boundaries of his cloak-esque jacket.

Hiei did not answer, but instead began his trek to the next power-level in contempt.

"Hey, you, where do you think you're going? You have some nerve if you think for a minute I'll let you walk away to put this great company in jeopardy, intruder!"

"Fool. I suggest you save your energy for your upcoming trip."

"To where?!"

"The resurrection…"

"Wha-?" That was when Tabemono felt it; a burning, agonizing, searing sensation straight from his hip, all the way to the other, also putting the unbearable pain on his stomach in the progress, "Arghhhhh!" The edge of Tabemono's hip tore open before the entire upper half of his body slid seamlessly from his legs, to the ground, in a way a person would tear open a packet of crisp.

And Hiei didn't even tussle as Tabemono's lifeless body dropped onto the floor, blood spewing from the stumps of his body and legs…

He just (deathly) ambled on to his next destination.

XxX

(The vice-chairman's office)

XxX

Seeing his employees drop one by one like flies at the hands of the two intruders was quite unsettling for the vice-chairman. He had somewhat considered those 'kids', to him being as old as he was, family; but felt pride for the way they put up a fight and didn't run even went offered a sure-way to live.

They took their impending doom like true loyal servants of the Jusenkyo Preservation Society.

"These juvenile delinquents," The vice-chairman grunted, smoothing his wrinkles with his handkerchief. He had to keep reminding himself over and over again that two invaders had yet to fight their more powerful warriors, like Jiro, but seeing them ruthlessly and seamlessly murder the weaker-ones like ants made cold-sweat rain down his head.

"You're worrying too much, boss," Kazumu said lazily, not lifting up his head from the table.

"Do you want another salary cut young man?"

"Sheesh. I knew this was gonna be a drag."

XxX

(With Yusuke)

XxX

"I smoked two guys," Yusuke mumbled to himself, feeling hollow, "Yeah, but they were the bad people. They were gonna hurt Red for fuck's sake!" So he kept telling himself, trudging through the next corridor with his hand propped on the wall, as if he needed assistance getting to his next destination.

Yusuke would've honestly preferred if all these soldiers had taken him up on his offer to skedaddle from this place, to live to fight another day, but part of him knew negotiating peacefully wasn't going to work. Not from what the little old lady, Cologne, had told him anyway.

The Jusenkyo Preservation Society was meant to be kept under wraps, and only to be seen from the shadows rarely when someone was found guilty of breaching their code of conduct. It usually resulted in them killing the offender mercilessly, if by chance they couldn't get them to control their curses, which was never.

That sort of self-righteousness was what prompted Yusuke into action by trying to forcibly put a halt to this society permanently, for he would not stand for anyone trying to hurt his friend. Still, the little boy in Yusuke hoped some members would at least see sense and take him up on his offer to jump ship.

Then maybe they wouldn't have to throw away their lives for nothing.

What couldn't be helped, couldn't be helped.

Yusuke strengthened his resolve as much as he could by remembering why he'd opted to bring the far more powerful, and competent Hiei, instead of Ranma. The reasoning was both simplistic and diabolical rolled up in its finest package.

Hiei was an ice-cold killer, Ranma was not.

Unfortunately for Ranma, Yusuke needed the former, not the latter.

"Well, this is, out there, I guess," Yusuke mumbled to himself, reaching the end of the corridor. This open space was decorated in a very girlish manner, with the walls being painted pink, six flower-verses propped on top of three stylish tables, and a pink recliner seat in the corner, with teddy bears laid on them.

Also, on the right side of the wall was a portrait of a brown haired woman. Yusuke guessed that would be his next opponent.

"Hmm, interesting," Yusuke turned steely eyes onto the direction of an alluring voice, seeing a dazzling classy dressed lady ambling out into the open, "I never would have expected the low-class lawbreakers hiring rouge criminals to deal with us, though I should have. Trailer-trash is trailer trash after all. However, I can't deny you being here warranted my attention, hun, as I had expected Emi-dear to take you out before you got to me."

"Emi? Who that? Is that the fruitcake?" Yusuke murmured questioningly, getting a scornful glare from Sachiko in return.

"Yes, and for your information the term is cross-dresser. I recommend you stay in school, hun," Sachiko said coolly.

"Uh-Uh. Father babied you well, eh princess?" Yusuke mocked in return.

Sachiko smirked, amusement in her eyes at picking up on a resemblance in attitude between this young man and the rude-girl Chiyuki. After all, all trailer-trash were on the same low-plateau. They were uneducated, uncivilized brutes.

"Hmm. You're a fetching young man. I can see why Emi-hun let you come to me instead of disposing of you on the spot like the trash that you are. Poor dear, he and I find it just so tedious to find a good manicure. As you can tell, hun, it would have been more unnecessary work," Sachiko said as a way to patronize Yusuke.

If Yusuke felt amused in some way that she was denying the very likely possibility her girlfriend-like buddy was counting sheep up in the white fluffy sky, then his initial facial expression didn't show it.

It was still very much as cool as a shaolin monk.

"Oh really? What a shame," Yusuke said sarcastically, "Though where he is now he won't have to worry about keepin' his nails all bling-bling. _Lucky him_."

Sachiko was miffed beyond all hell.

"What are you saying?!"

"I'm sayin' he's pushing up daisies."

Sachiko went wide-eyed at the blunt statement from the powerhouse young man.

This was exactly what she had been expecting but her love for her friend ultimately blocked it out and made up a feigned reasoning for why the intruder had treaded past Emi's post as a defence mechanism.

Hearing confirmation that Emi had essentially met his end was all too much for the classy lady.

"Aaaaaahh!" Sachiko roared, cracking the surrounding walls, reducing her teddy bears to puffy smithereens, and forcing the tables and flower-vases to explode into showers of splinters and glasses with nothing but her supreme pinkish-red aura, "You vile creature!" She screeched, charging the impassive Yusuke down.

Upon reaching Yusuke, the enraged lady lifted up her leg and slammed it towards the immovable hybrid, whom only lifted up his arm in response. The ground cratered around them, completing the section's utter annihilation.

"You!" Sachiko seethed, fighting to keep the tears from leaking from her eyes, as she remained suspended in the air, her high-heel glued to Yusuke's forearm, "He was my friend, and you-."

"I did what you would've done to Ranma," Yusuke stated. His poker-face held true.

'Ranma,' Sachiko mused, 'As in Ranma Saotome. The undignified whore using his curse form to wrap men around his finger, all in the hopes to get something he desires? That was why he came here, to protect that _harlot_.'

"All's fair in love and war."

"So, it's revenge you seek," Sachiko said, a fierce scowl on her face. She leaped away from Yusuke, watching-, no, observing him lower his arm.

"Not really," Yusuke offered, "He was in the way, so I made him not in the way. He coulda stepped aside and allowed me easy access here, woulda saved him his ass I'l tell ya that much."

"A loyal sweetheart such as Emi would never back down to vile creatures such as yourself," Though she wished he had just this once.

"Yeah, but the question now is, will you?"

"Excuse me."

"Did I stutter, motherfucker?" Sachiko flinched at the young man's crude crass language.

Didn't his father's servants teach him any manners? So uncivilized.

"You can either scram with yer tail between your legs, or-." Yusuke's arm slowly began to rise until it was chest-level, with his hand straightening out and fingers curling inwards, only his thumb and index finger was an exception to this.

Sachiko noted, albeit with bitterness, he was forming the pendent on his neck but with his fingers.

"Please do tell what you, an uneducated barbaric brute, has in store fo-?" Sachiko was left amazed by the magnitude of Ki generating on the tip of Yusuke's index finger. It was enormous, and it was expending in size, forcing her to back up, or risk touching it, thus getting vaporized as if she was never born.

'What-? How-? Just how does a trailer-trash barbarian get all this power? I-It's not possible!' Sachiko was simply lost for words, her eyes locked fearfully on the overwhelming amount of energy surging in front of her. She knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, if Yusuke was to fire the monstrous nuke at her, it would easily end in her utter eradication.

Yusuke turned his arm to one side; calmly uttering the words, "**Reigan (Spirit Gun)**," The orb of intense blue spirit energy rocketed from Yusuke's finger, forcibly making its own way to the outside world by creating several tunnels in the side.

When Sachiko turned her head to gape at the massive amount of power Yusuke seemed to casually unleash it had already blown its way through the fortress, having created convenient pave-ways for anyone to enter into another corridor, travelling over to the mountain-ranges over on the far side of China.

Once it got there a huge epic Dragon Ball Z-like explosion occurred, it was comprehensive; wide like a country-sized stadium, yet taller than three skyscrapers put together. It covered every single mountain in the radius, and from Sachiko's perspective, completely obliterated them.

Once the blast subsided, yes, the mountains were no longer in sight.

'He… destroyed those mountains,' Sachiko felt cold sweat running down her cheek as she turned her head to look at the impassive young man, 'Wiped them out as easy as me throwing away a new dress daddy brought me.' Sachiko shuddered.

This guy, he was the real-deal.

"That's gonna be you if you don't scram!"

Sachiko shivered lustfully. This sense of danger, it was erotically adventurous. She lived for danger, one could say it was her Achilles heel, her crack, and she needed her fix.

"My pleasure."

Surprise drowned on Yusuke's face.

"Really?"

"Yes," Sachiko shrugged, "I'm clearly no match for you. Why, I would have to be a brain dead moron to continue taking you on."

"Oh," Well that was just nifty, "Well, make like a bandana and split."

"As you say, _boss_," The sexual way she spoke that reminded Yusuke of his employee-esque companion, Nabiki, only in predator form.

Once Sachiko left the vicinity via the entrance Yusuke released a sigh.

"Well, at least everyone here ain't hell-bent on defending the castle with their very own bodies. That's something I guess."

XxX

(With Hiei)

The impassive demon stood in another blend section, this time facing a tall muscular green-clad man.

"Hmm. Quite impressive that you were able to make it here," Hachirou mumbled, unfolding his huge arms, straightening them at his sides, "Though, admittedly I wasn't too close to Tabemono and Masato, they were still my comrades," He gave Hiei a one-over, "I have to ask, did you kill them?"

"What do you think?"

"I see." Hachirou closed his eyes, while lifting up his right leg, putting it forward, then doing anti-clockwise to the other one so it was at polar odds to the frontal leg, "Shall we begin?" He placed his left arm underneath his chest like he was digging up dirt, and his right arm above with his hand taking on the shape of a claw.

"No need," Hiei murmured, causing surprise to appear on Hachirou's features.

The full blooded demon's only answer to Hachirou's unspoken enquiring question was to blindingly swipe his arm into his cloak-like jacket, wiping it across the very air itself as if he were cleaning a table; a force of concentrated reiki-esque air-pressure erupted from Hiei, soaring over to Hachirou before he even had time to blink his static eyes.

The left side of Hachirou's body containing his left arm and leg was purged from the other side which had completed his body moments before with a mass amount of blood spewing forth from the severed body; however, the little ice cold killer merely sheathed his sword, walking off down the next tunnel as if he had never even stopped to begin with.

"You're already dead."

XxX

(With Sachiko)

The term 'man on a mission' couldn't have been more fitting than right at this moment; well, except in this instance the genders would be swapped around.

Sachiko knew her goal: to destroy Ranma Saotome – the lawbreaker guilty of breaking the code of modesty with his shameless revealing of himself in cursed form – for two reasons.

One: first and foremost she wanted to give that _damned _low-life hooligan a taste of his own medicine by eradicating his precious friend like he had done to hers.

Her heart wrenched; a resemblance of the flamboyant man formerly known as Emi flashed through her mind. She gazed up at the night sky, from where she stood on the edge of the massive mountain the company's building was on, and there he was again.

_Emi_.

His face, even if just an hallucination, looked radiant surrounding by the sparkling stars.

'This world, it did not deserve your beauty, Emi-hun,' Sachiko reflected, strengthening her resolve. She knew what had to be done and in the progress she would be satisfying her own needs, a need to live in danger, to know every day, of every hour, minute, and second she'd need to keep a constant eye open to avoid karma claiming her as another victim.

She strived off of it.

That was the second reasoning to justify all the more in smoking the cursed boy was the right thing to do: That rouged assassin clearly cared for Ranma Saotome or at the very least held him higher than the other cursed culprits.

Why else would he specifically mention the she-boy in his resort to her accusation of him wiping out Emi?

The two of them had a bond, similar to hers and Emi's, so naturally the boy wanted to defend his friend even if it meant going against the defenders of peace.

That was quite admirable and Sachiko would admit she found it quite relatable, reluctantly and figuratively speaking.

However, that didn't mean Sachiko wasn't going to take vengeance upon the boy for killing her friend in murdering his own. That would teach him, that would let him know, even just slightly, the pain she felt at the knowledge she gained.

She would never see her friend again. No more manicures, no more plays, no more soap-operas, no more gossip, no nothing! All the stuff, among others, that the two used to do together, Sachiko would have to do _alone_.

… Because of that _man_!

'Don't worry, hun, I'll make that man experience the pain I feel. Hold tight, okay? You'll be getting some company, unpleasant it may be; hooligans are all the same, but hey, at least it's something if nothing else,' Sachiko slithered her hand into her gorgeous bosom, fishing around in there for roughly three seconds.

Once she lifted her hand out of her breasts, she now wielded an expensive-looking cell phone.

"One of father's helicopters should get me to Japan within the next hour at the very least."

Then she could kill Ranma, sending Yusuke into despair, while she goes on the run, always looking over her shoulder, never knowing when the boy would find her to take his own vengeance on her for what she did to Ranma. Just thinking of the thrill Sachiko would get from playing Cat-and-Mouse with Yusuke gave her the shivers.

As far as Sachiko was concerned she was killing two birds with one stone.

xXx

(Tendo-Dojo – Living room – With Ryoga)

"Now, how do I get to sleep?"

The lost-boy contemplated in a mumble lying on a futon in the living room, everyone else had already retired to their rooms for the night.

This was what he wanted, right? Right?

He had Akane Tendo, aka the girl who the lost boy was pining for, for how many odd months before Yusuke came down and changed not only his, but the Tendos' lives, whether ultimately the outcome of said redirection in the grand scheme of things was for good or bad.

His end-all, be-all rival, _Saotome, _was no longer living under the same roof as the Tendos, more specifically, the ingrate was not sharing a home with the _goddess, _Akane Tendo. This was Ryoga Hibiki's dream come true. He should be _happy! He was!_

But then, why'd Ryoga feel so, _hollow_, as if getting what he wanted did the opposite of what he'd intended it to do, or at least hoped it would do, rid the lost-boy of his everlasting depression?

It was Ironic just how bitterly sweet it was, enough to rot one's teeth.

Or maybe it was just a fine-batch of karma being personally delivered to Ryoga by first-class means.

Or maybe Ryoga was just doomed to be reduced to a puddle of sadness, forever to be permanently wed to unhappiness, just like the rest of his family, and his children he would soon undoubtedly make with Akane, and their children, and their children's children, and so on, and so forth.

A thousand years down the line Ryoga's descendants would too suffer with the eternal curse known as depression.

'Dearest Akane-chan, I don't deserve you,' Ryoga anguished, dragging himself up off of the futon Soun had allowed him to rest upon, then his wary heels out of the living room, over to the stairs, and up them. The place felt so desolate at night-time, with a strange sense of creepiness.

Even the dipping water from the tap coming from the kitchen could be heard.

Ryoga flinchingly made a sudden jump, sharply jolting around on-the-balls of his feet, "Eh!" The lightly falling colourless liquid was like a soft melody to Ryoga's ears, soothing him with the knowledge that no one was there, "It's just the water."…Just the water, the very water that could turn him into his very guilt and annoyance folded up into one neat little parcel with a _yellow '_scarf'.

_P-chan_!

Ryoga was travelling down guilt-lane faster than a speeding vehicle on a motorway, "Akane-chan, I'm so sorr. I wish it wasn't like this, that I wasn-. One day I'll rid myse-. I-." Ryoga tried, cringing with very word which left his lips, his face crinkling up in frustration.

He shuffled his feet on the wooden tiled-flooring of his 'girlfriend's' home, before bravely continuing to whence he had decided to go to, outside of a white-painted door with a specific sign pinned to it with the name Akane conspicuously wrote on it.

He _lightly_, _softly_, like a kid sucking up the courage to walk into his parents' room and ask them for that new video game which he had wanted, rapped his knuckles against the door frame.

"Akane-chan," Ryoga whispered, even quieter than what was usual for any normal person to speak in this scenario, his ear gently glued to the door.

After a while – maybe a minute or two, but who was counting? – Ryoga figured, well, _hoped_ Akane was still asleep, before vacuuming in as much air as humanly possible, expanding his chest like a balloon.

The release of said air felt good, like he was letting out a part of his anxiety.

"Here goes nothing," Ryoga murmured, grasping the doorknob, then turning it to subtly push it open, but only barely, "You awake dear?" Rhetorical question aside, she obviously wasn't awake, considering the fact she had her back turned to him, Ryoga observed from the small opening he made for himself.

So, mustering up more confidence, Ryoga slowly, silently, leaned into the door, forcing it back with so much gentleness it would even put Kasumi to shame, or bring tears of happiness and pride to her eyes.

Once fully in Akane's room, Ryoga stalked his way to his sleeping beauty, though not that he deserved her with the lie he kept from her.

The lost-boy was spooked once Akane shifted around in her bed to face him, "Akane-chan!" He yelped quietly, goofily holding up his hands, and positioning his leg upwards in quite frankly a silly position.

Akane muttered something intangible but otherwise never peeled her eyes open.

Ryoga was relieved.

"Look at me, sneaking into Akane-chan's room like a no-good burglar. I'm pathetic," Ryoga berated himself, allowing his feet to carry him to Akane's side. There he fell onto one knee, as if he were proposing, (he could dream), and propped the back side of his hand on the youngest Tendo's beautiful face.

"Akane," Ryoga whispered, diligently caressing Akane's cheek. She looked so peaceful, snuggled up in her bed, "I wish I could tell you," He spat with some venom at the thought of his curse, "If only I could, then maybe, just maybe, we could truly be happy; maybe we could even start a family sometime in the near future… But I guess that's just wishful thinking."

The lost boy sighed in a pitiful fashion.

"Ryoga-kun."

Ryoga let out a sharp hiss of a yelp from the soft cheery murmur of Akane.

"Akane-chan," Ryoga observed Akane's expression, a happy, cheery smile complete with closing eyes. His breath hitched, she looked even more beautiful all of a sudden.

"You silly boy, there's more of mama's cooking where that came from." Ryoga let out a humourless chuckle. It wasn't fun but he soldiered on eating his precious Akane's cooking. It made her happy, and Ryoga liked seeing her happy. That ingrate Saotome never deserved her.

So what if her cooking made him a little sick! That meant nothing! When you love someone you do stuff you wouldn't normally do, like swallowing poorly made food which would make anyone quite sick.

Though, after today, Ryoga could say his hard-work wasn't for nothing.

_XxX_

_(Flashback – Hours ago)_

_After Ryoga's sheer annihilation of Mr S, to which it was decided to leave the artificially made man lying in the destroyed park due to the fact it was clear as day he wasn't a normal human, thus the police shouldn't make a big fuss about 'his' murder but the destruction of a few sections of Nerima, Ryoga carried his injured princess, bridal-style, back to the Tendo Dojo. _

_It was a nice, somewhat peaceful afternoon for the lost-boy if not a little disturbing with Soun's eyes consistently honed on him as if he were a hawk just waiting to be shot down by its predator. He had a feeling he knew what that was all about, but tried to ignore it and focus on the bright side of the spectrum._

_After all, Saotome wasn't here. _

_In other words Ryoga had done what most Americans would envy him for._

_He received the American dream. _

"_So, lad," Soun said, breaking the somewhat hostile air which had formed between him and Ryoga, Nabiki idly resting on her side in front of the television, "I take it you'll be staying here for a while."_

"_Yeah," Ryoga confirmed, sitting in seiza, trying to calm his nerves, "If that's okay with you, Tendo-san."_

_Soun observed Ryoga's politeness with a keen-eye, 'Well, I suppose that's to be expected of the lad. He's always been well-mannered as far as I can remember,' Soun released a sigh. Why couldn't Ranma be like that? 'He really is Ranma-kun's polar-opposite in that regard.'_

_Well, at least Ranma had the decency to call him 'Mr Tendo'. So that was polite of him._

"_Well, I have nothing against it, it doesn't mean I'm particularly fond of the idea either, but if my Akane really wants this, then I can allow it to be," Soun said. What Akane wanted, Akane usually got. That was how it had always been. _

"_Oh, well, in that case, don't worry, I'll sleep in the living room," Ryoga offered, scratching the back of his head in a bashful fashion, "I wouldn't want to intrude or cause too much of a hassle sir."_

"_Of course you will, lad," Soun said with a one hundred percent assurance Ryoga would keep good to his word, because he – Soun Tendo, the martial extraordinaire – was the man of this house, 'Ah, perhaps the lad living here won't be too bad in the long run,' Soun chirped cheerily. _

_Soun was still able to impose his superiority over someone just like he used to do to Ranma back when the pigtailed martial artist used to live here. The boy was too rude and often times his behaviour was bang out of order, which would result in Soun castigating the boy with a good-talking to, or outright throwing him out of the Tendo Dojo to think about his behaviour._

_Stupid lad._

_Soun missed that feeling, the feeling of self-confidence which had been ripped away from him by Yusuke's arrival here. He felt like such a wimp, sitting there with imploring eyes while Yusuke takes Ranma away from the Tendo Dojo,_ _subsequently bringing an end to the fluctuating relationship of Akane and Ranma. _

_*Sigh* And, of course, terminating any chance for Soun and Genma to achieve their dreams by reuniting Akane and Ranma together._

_Genma had been out every day this past month to track down his missing boy to bring him 'home' to marry Akane, and much to Soun's surprise, a passive Yusuke let him do so, convinced he wouldn't find Ranma no matter how hard he looked. _

_By this time Genma would usually slump in with tears falling from his eyes. _

'_I say, could Saotome have found Ranma-kun?' Soun contemplated, missing the curious eyes of Ryoga watching him, his hand cupping his chin, 'Hmm. Well, I can't rely on that now, not with Akane-dear already in Ryoga's arms,' It pained him to even think that, 'If I can somehow reveal Ryoga's…little secret to my Akane, then maybe-."_

_He didn't know how well that would go. If Soun was too blunt Ryoga might just end up absolutely eradicating him for ruining his relationship with Akane. After seeing the beating Ryoga had laid upon Mr S, the last thing Soun wanted to do was get on Ryoga's bad side. _

_Just thinking of the state Mr S was in the time he arrived to his location with Akane in tow, was enough to shatter Soun's protective shell of confidence. _

_It was horrific._

_Then there was Urameshi-kun. If Ryoga couldn't destroy Soun for sabotaging his thing with Akane, for the girl herself, then one could bet their life-savings ten times over and come out millionaires that Yusuke would do. _

'_Yes, I'll have to think of an alternative option for Ranma-kun,' Soun turned towards his second-eldest daughter with a chirpy smile on his face, "Oh, Nabiki-dear. Say, I've been thinking, what-if we ask Urameshi-kun to bring Ranm-."_

"_No."_

"_W-What? B-But you didn't even give me the chance to finish dear."_

"_I'm not throwing away my future daddy just so you and Saotome-ojisan can achieve your end-all goal," Nabiki freely elucidated, carelessly switching over the channel on the television._

"_B-But Nabiki!" Soun cried imploringly._

"_No means no, daddy!" Nabiki inserted firmly, causing Soun to whimper._

"_Are you still trying to force one of your daughters off on Saotome?" Ryoga grimaced questioningly. Where was Soun's honour? Didn't Soun know or even care of what his daughters wanted? Ugh. _

"_But of course, lad! I wouldn't expect you to understand, being as young as you are. Why, you still have a lot of coming of age to undergo, so I can understand your misinterpretation of the legacy Saotome and myself had built. However, lad, I hope you understand that legacy needs to be carried on through generations by our children. That's why I need Saotome's son to marry one of my lovely daughters. Do you understand, lad?"_

"_Even it means you have to force Kasumi or Nabiki to marry Saotome?"_

"_If means be, yes, I don't see why not lad."_

"_Yes, daddy, because that contrived plan worked splendidly well for imouto and Saotome."_

_Soun flinched at Nabiki's sarcastic input. She didn't even turn to face him, nope, just coolly told him making either her or Kasumi Ranma's bride by force won't fly. Soun could only lower his head, struggling to strife his low wails. _

_Though Soun looked up, seeing the edges of Ryoga's lips threatening to curve outwards in a smug grin, but the boy resisted as to not rub it in._

_He definitely wanted to, though. _

"_Ryoga-kun!" They heard Akane chirp cheerily from just around the corner. _

"_Akane-chan!" Ryoga snapped to attention in a goofy manner, shooting up to his feet like a kid on a fieldtrip, right on cue to see Akane wobbling into the living room on clutches, "You shouldn't up and about dear, you 'till haven't recovered yet." Ryoga fretted, running to Akane's side in a blur of speed._

"_Oi, you, I'm not that hurt. Dr Tofu said so himself," Akane said somewhat haughtily, a sweet smile on her face at how quick Ryoga got to her side, "Honestly, you worry too much."_

"_Hehe," Ryoga laughed, pleased to see Akane a lot happier now, "That may be true, but I don't think he was quite in the right frame of mind, with you-know-who in the same room as him," Ryoga could relate to that, though. He himself had acted like a goofy chuckling simpleton around his girlfriend many times before. _

"_I guess you're right," Akane sighed, 'I'm gonna do whatever it takes to help Kasumi-oneesama and Dr Tofu get together. After all, they deserve this happiness I feel from being with Ryoga-kun too!' It was only fair. _

"_What were you doing in the kitchen?" Ryoga asked curiously, helping Akane over to the table. His face heated intently, turning red with his hands cupped on Akane's waist while the girl herself removed her arms from underneath the clutches. _

_Ryoga took the clutches from Akane to allow her to sit down on her knees. _

_Akane just looked up at Ryoga, the lost boy's heart skipping hundred miles a minute. To him, Akane's smile was the embodiment of purity and all things holy in his life. _

_Ryoga did have some other lights, namely his family, but seeing as they were almost never around due to suffering the same damn virus known as directional-problems, they weren't too close. _

_Even Ryoga's sensei was higher up on the food chain than them, but nevertheless Akane was his goddess. _

_Akane patted the spot next to her, "Sit."_

_Ryoga obeyed, oh hell yeah he did so submissively, he sat down on his knees like an obedient dog. Clearly, he wasn't the 'man' in this relationship, "Dear?"_

"_Akane-imouto," Kasumi's gentle voice cut in, Ryoga looking up and seeing the eldest sister walking in carrying a tray with a bowl propped on it, "I brought Ryoga-kun's meal in for you." _

_Ryoga whirled his head to look at Akane, but her smile only brightened, if possible at all._

"_I made you dinner!" Akane chirped. _

"_Akane-chan," Ryoga whispered, a hint of debrief was in his eyes, "You… you shouldn't have done that… for me. I mean-, uhm, you didn't have to, not in your condition."_

"_But I wanted to Ryoga-kun," Akane protested, shifting her eyes away from Ryoga's adorable ones. Shyness was a bigger jerk than Ranma-idiot, "You fought so hard for me today, the very least I could do is make you something to eat. I know how much you like my cooking." _

_Ryoga could only observe Akane with a soft expression._

"_Why, you're really lucky to have someone like Akane-imouto preparing your dinner for you, Ryoga-kun," Kasumi smiled gently, placing the tray in front of Ryoga._

_Ryoga studied the meal in front of him; greenish liquid, with chunks of what appeared to be triangle-shaped chicken-bits, though it was hard to tell with the way they were cut; and small pieces of onions, which he was surprised to find he could actually make them out along with the peppers. _

_Usually Akane was so angry in the kitchen she would just chop away like a mad-woman, severely ruining not only the cutting board, but also the vegetables she was supposed to chop into neat little pieces. _

_The meal, green thai-curry by the looks of things, wasn't exactly out-of-this-world, something one would serve at dinner-parties, or five-star luxury restaurants, but it was a start. _

"_Yeah," A soft smile appeared on Ryoga's face, "I really am," And he meant that too, even if Akane's cooking wasn't top-notch, he would eat it just for her. _

_As his hand slowly reached for the spoon, it was halted by a delicate grip, Ryoga's breath hitching at the divine feel of the smooth sulky texture. _

"_I think I'm the lucky one to have you," The once egotistical blue-haired beauty retorted in a remarkably humble fashion, letting go of Ryoga's hand to pick up the spoon. She done so, then dipped it into the curry, carefully lifting up the spoon with her hand held underneath it as if to make sure none wouldn't drop on the floor, "Open wide, here comes the choo-choo train."_

_Ryoga couldn't believe it. _

"_Y-You're g-gonna feed me?" He stuttered. _

"_Silly boy, why else would I be holding a spoon to you? Honestly, Ryoga-kun, you can be so darn silly," Akane said in a playful fashion. _

'_Akane-chan's gonna feed me! Oh! I could just die right here and 'till be happy,' A bolt of lightning abruptly struck the sky, supposedly willing to make Ryoga's suggestion a reality, 'Please don't take me now, god. I'm not ready really. This is just too good to be true,' Ryoga looked at Akane with a big silly smile before opening his mouth. _

_Akane put the spoon into his mouth, eagerly watching him chew down on her food with an anticipated gleam in her eye, "So, how was it!?" Akane couldn't wait. The suspense was killing her._

_Ryoga politely held up a finger, urging her to wait. She pouted, but done so anyway. _

_The release of air let Akane know Ryoga had swallowed. _

"_Well?" Akane asked. _

"_Not bad, just as good-, no, __better __than usual!" Ryoga said with a smile._

_Akane held out her chest proudly, "Kasumi-oneesama helped me make it."_

"_Well, I can tell, Akane-chan. You're making great strides," Ryoga complimented. _

"_Thank you, Ryoga-kun," Akane said shyly, "I'm glad you liked it."_

"_I do."_

"_You know, I've been thinking of giving up on martial arts," Akane said offhandedly, scooping up more curry before holding the spoon out to a shocked Ryoga, "Here you go!" But he never opened his mouth, because it was already open in agape, "Ryoga-kun?"_

"_Akane-dear!" Soun said, "You can't be serious, dear! What about the art!?"_

"_What_ a_bout _it_ papa!?" Akane snapped back, "I'm clearly not that good at martial arts. Just look at what happened to me?" Akane stressed, her grip on the spoon shaking. She got sympathetic looks from Kasumi and Ryoga, "That jerk only hit me once, JUST ONCE, and with his backhand, but weak little me couldn't even stand that, while Ryoga-kun not only took his strongest punch but also pummelled him into oblivion with ease!" _

_Akane lowered her head, dejection threatening to overwhelm her. Akane's grip would've broken completely if not for the grip on her wrist, making her look up to see the understanding, caring look of Ryoga. _

"_It's okay, Akane-chan. Really. I-I was just lucky is all against that scumbag Mr S," Ryoga said, trying to downplay his victory over Mr S. _

_Akane wasn't buying it, "Oi, you!" She scolded lightly, dropping her head a little, "You're a terrible liar, you do know that right?" A bashful grin appeared on Ryoga's face, the lost boy rubbing the back of his head. _

_Though Ryoga's rewards for his efforts to cheer up Akane was close contact as the girl closed the distance between their faces, putting a blush on Ryoga's cheek, before he felt the blue haired beauty caressing his cheek with her lips. _

"_Thank you, Ryoga-kun. Honestly, I don't mind giving up on martial arts. You know I've always wanted to be the perfect housewife, but I never felt confident enough with Ranma always running away from my cooking. Now I have you to look after, and I'm happy," Akane smiled at Ryoga, feeding him again._

"_Oh my, it's so romantic watching a couple feed one another," Kasumi smiled in a somewhat dreamy manner, getting bashful grins from the love-birds in return, "Wouldn't you agree, father, Nabiki-imouto?" Soun flinched, quickly turning his head away from his eldest daughter. _

_Nabiki shrugged, "Whatever floats your boat."_

"_Nabiki-imouto, don't be rude!" Kasumi castigated, Nabiki just cheekily stuck her tongue out, "Why, I think it's very sweet," A wistful expression appeared on Kasumi's features, "I just wish I had a mature older man to feed."_

_A light bulb flashed on top of Akane's head, "You know, Kasumi-oneesama, it's not too late to call Dr Tofu and offer him a place to stay here."_

"_Oh Akane-imouto," Kasumi reprimanded gently, "I would prefer not to cause Dr Tofu any more hassle as it is."_

"_But you won't!" Akane said, quite forcefully at first before remembering __**who **__she was talking to, "Onee-sama," She added timidly, "Honestly, I'm positive Dr Tofu would be more than happy to spend time here with… us." _

_Kasumi smiled, though there was almost a sage-like hint to her eyes, "Oh, I'm sure he does, dear."_

"_Hey, Kasumi-dear, I've been thinking. You and Ranma-kun really ought to spend more time together. You know, I hear the lad's been maturing quite impressively where-uh-ever he is. Yes. Why, it might do you the world of good to get out more."_

"_Quit trying to force your engagement plans down our throats papa!"_

_Soun winced._

_Ryoga sighed in a blissful fashion. _

_This was heaven._

_XxX_

_(End of Flashback)_

_XxX_

"Hush, Genma. D'you wanna wake everyone up?"

Ryoga jumped abruptly, having been rudely brought out of his remembrance.

'Happosai.' What was going on? 'What's he doing here? Akane-chan said they haven't heard a word from him since Yusuke-sensei sent him into orbit,' Good riddance to a bad egg he would say. He never did like Happosai. The old creep had the gall to inappropriately touch _his_ Akane. A burning anger of ferocity filled Ryoga at the thought.

'If he's here to hurt Akane, I'll kill him.' Yes, he would, just like he iced Mr S.

"Sorry, sorry, master, I just *snicker* can't wait to be rid of the boy, so I can free up Akane to marry m'boy."

'The boy? Does Saotome-san mean me?' Ryoga thought. He would defend himself if needs be. He was ready for it.

"Hmm, yes, I agree. Once we get my magic mirror we can travel into the past and bring back lord Ganondorf. He'll show that juvenile delinquent Urameshi whose boss. Take away from my treasure will'ya. Well we'll see how ya'll like it being clobbered like the little guy you are brat."

Ryoga's eyes went wide, 'Ganondorf? Who the hell is he?' The way they were talking it sounded like this guy could crush even Ryoga's master, but surely that was improbable. Yusuke was the strongest warrior he had ever met.

Period.

End of story.

To even think there was someone out there - or was, by the time-travel talk - who could single-handedly outclass Yusuke-sensei was mind-blowing.

'N-No,' Ryoga shook his head in denial, 'That can't be right.' His gut was telling him letting Happosai and Genma travel to the past to retrieve this Ganondorf-guy was a bad idea. If he merited this level of hype then him coming here would result in a fight for the earth.

The collateral damage would be immense.

'I've gotta stop them!' Ryoga stood up in determination.

"Ryoga-kun."

"Akane-chan," Ryoga whispered, turning to face Akane, only to find her still fast asleep, "She must be dreaming about me." That made him blush. She was having a hot dream about him by the looks of things. Oh he could dream now.

Ryoga kneeled one last time to Akane's level, carefully moving his face to Akane's, "I'll be back my dear. Just… wait for me." Ryoga sucked up enough courage to gently kiss Akane on her nose, receiving a pleasurable hum from her in return.

"Oh Ryoga-kun."

XxX

"Hehe." Genma let out a small, quiet snicker, sounding very much like a mischievous little rascal, "Say, you don't suppose this guy could reward me with all the sweets a man could want do you, master?" Genma asked.

"Yes, lord Ganondorf treats his subjects with the respect they deserve," Happosai said, getting a gleeful, but quiet squeal of joy from Genma, though Happosai was more concerned with the subtle noises he heard coming from his right, "Say, Genma. You hear something?"

"Hmm?"

"Like me."

Genma winced in a high-pitched voice at a similar deadpan one

"Boy," His eyes narrowed at Ryoga standing distinctively next to a door he had no right to be coming out of, without his shirt on no less, "What are you doing in Akane's room!?"

"Take a guess," Ryoga suggested coolly, arms crossed over his muscled chest.

Happosai grabbed his cheeks, wailing melodramatically, "Oh, Akane-baby, how could you betray me like this."

"Ha, as if Akane-chan would lower herself to satisfy the likes of you," Ryoga scoffed. The notion was quite foolish if he did say so himself.

Happosai scowled, "I'd watch my tongue if I were you, whippersnapper," Happosai let out a noise of supremacy, folding his arms behind his back, "It's frankly in your best interest too, if you know what I mean fella. That is, if you want to be on his good side."

"Lemme guess, that would be this 'Ganondorf-guy' you were both gossiping about like a group of girls," Ryoga mocked.

Genma gasped, "You were eavesdropping on us!? How dare you!" He scowled at the cheek of Ryoga calling them girls, "And for your information boy, we were discussing manly business."

"Yeah I bet you were." Ryoga countered in an uninterested way, "Why have you even brought him back here anyway, Saotome-san?"

Happosai threw a tantrum, "Now why ya gotta be disrespecting the little guy, brat?" He got teary eyed, "And all I wanted to do is help you out. But, no! All you wanna do is look down on the little guy."

Ryoga let out an unamused snort, "Like what could you want to do to help, weaken Saotome again? No thank you. I don't need no one's help beating him."

"No, you brat! I meant help in getting rid of Urameshi!" Happosai bitched.

"As if you could even touch Yusuke-sensei, when you couldn't even beat Saotome without taking away his strength," Ryoga simply laughed that off.

"Lord Ganondorf will dispose of Urameshi, then he'll reward me with all the bras, panties, and pretty ladies I want!" Happosai stated with a childish pout.

"You keep mentioning 'this Ganondorf-guy' like he's the end-all be-all of all powerful, but all I hear is a tiny senile old man blabbering on about a long forgotten myth," Ryoga quipped coolly.

"He is real, he is real, I say, you'll see! You'll all see! Lord Ganondorf'll come back and teach that brat Urameshi some manners, I tell ya!" Happosai whined, stomping his little feet on the floor, "Just lemme get my magic mirror and I'll bring him straight to ya, fella!"

"Yeah, that's not going to happen."

"What?" A sly smile formed on Happosai's features, "Ah. I see. So you're scared, fella. You realize the might of lord Ganondorf, the fear just whispering his name retelling the legendary folklore of his demise brings to people."

"Humph, hardly the case," Ryoga said, "That said, if this guy turns out to be the real-deal, he might end up bringing the eternal-damnation to Nerima, or maybe even the earth. You can see the problem here can't you?"

Happosai growled before a smirk came to his features, "Well in that cas-."

"Ryoga," But Genma himself cut the childish tiny old man off, speaking in a manner more suited to a wise respectable grand master, his arms sagely crossed over his chest, "I've always considered you a son, what with your harmless, childish banter with m'boy-," A glower formed on Ryoga's face.

Genma had some nerve to even imply he and Saotome fought like 'friends' merely play-wrestling.

Ranma Saotome was not his friend!

"-But you see boy, we need that mirror. I suggest you let us take it to avoid certain… ahem-," He abruptly cleared his throat, looking ahead, trying to peek into the room behind Ryoga. "-Secrets slipping out. Yes." He regretted ever giving off that subtle warning, for as soon as he did he felt a pair of knuckles grinding into his chin, with the two sides of his gi top being twisted in a spiral-pattern, his feet rising off of the ground.

"N-Now R-Ryoga, l-let's t-try t-to k-keep c-calm boy," Genma stammered in a fearful fashion, sweating rain bullets at the devilish, reddish, angry eyes of the Hibiki glaring with all the intensity hell had to offer, 'S-So f-fast… I-I d-didn't even s-see h-him move!'

Genma's breathing was intense with this malevolence of Ryoga threatening to crush him.

Genma shuddered, picturing his very own death in the eyes of the furious red-eyed demon-boy, yet it got worse. Genma's fears reached new heights from the amount of venom laced in Ryoga's voice when he spoke.

"If **you **ever mention _**that **_to me again… just **prepare yourself to **_**die**_!"

Don't mess with a man's woman.

Happosai just spoke sagely, "Well then fella there seems to be only one way to settle this dispute."

Ryoga was still very much seething ferociously at the quivering Genma, the middle-aged man's heart looking like it was about to give out with all the heavy, extreme breathing he was doing, "Duh." Ryoga said, coolly dropping Genma flat on his rear-end, before spinning on the balls of his feet, "Follow me. We'll settle this elsewhere."

Ryoga began his trek down the stairs, keeping calm and collected.

Genma was still shaking from witnessing Ryoga's devil-esque wrath first hand, so Happosai bounced to his side and laid a comforting hand on the man's knee, "Come Genma, the sooner we dispose of that hoodlum is the sooner we can come back here and retrieve my mirror magic. Remember? Bras, panties, and sweets, hehe."

Genma gave him a hesitant nod of his head, still eyeing where Ryoga had took off too.

"Y-Yes, master."

XxX

(With Akane)

"Ryoga-kun."

Akane whispered, on her knees, just managing to peer out of the window from her position on her bed to see her boyfriend, shirtless, leading Genma and Happosai away to a location to fight them. She had been awoken by Ryoga's kiss, but had refrained from speaking and chose to listen.

Akane didn't know what was going on or who this 'Ganondorf' person that Grandpa Happosai spoke so highly of was and why Uncle Saotome and Grandpa Happosai desired to bring him back. Sure Urameshi could be quite infuriating like Ranma, but all in all he wasn't too bad. After all if it wasn't for Urameshi Akane would never have gotten with Ryoga.

She doubted anything would've changed without Urameshi's presence.

After all, change was good.

Akane sighed.

"Come back safely."

XxX

(With Hiei)

"Whoa, hold it evildoer. You shall not go any further, I say. No. No. No. I hope you're ready for an energetic filled fight which will eventually lead to your demise, because after all, the heroes never lose! They don't in shounen manga and they don't here!" Jiro shouted cheerfully, leaping into his sunny bright painted section upon seeing the little man cruising into his domain.

Hiei's hand reached into the confines of his cloak-like jacket, whipping out his sword, much to Jiro's excitement seeing as he energetically put up his guard; though before he could move he felt a searing pain across his belly-button area.

The upper half of the childish middle-aged man's body of the Jusenkyo Preservation Society flew upwards, subsequently by a fountain of blood. Hiei simply sheathed his sword once again, ghosting past the deceased purple-clad man as if he was never there to start with.

"Nice guys finish last."

* * *

><p><strong>Here's a sneak preview of things to come.<strong>

The pigtailed martial artist released a sigh from his lips, "Look, I'm sorry, it's just I got a lot on my plate now as it is," Ranma said, his face laced with a no-nonsense expression; but at Shampoo's querying look, he decided to elaborate further on the matter, "Long story short, you being here means it's a two-for-one special. Beat a cursed sap; beat another one with half-the-effort." The smartass said.

Shampoo mulled over Ranma's quick witted explanation, with a finger gently placed on her chin, "Hmm," She droned cutely, putting the pieces of the puzzle together. Upon doing so, a look of horror appeared on her face, "The Jusenkyo-people here?"

"Yeah."

"But Shampoo think Yusuke-airen went go deal with bad-people," Shampoo trembled. Hey, those guys kidnapped her and Mousse effortlessly the first time around. They could do it again, "Where Ranma think Yusuke-airen is now."

"Dunno," Ranma said with a shrug. The truth was, he didn't know where his friend was. At first Ranma was thinking Yusuke had rolled home, but that was before Sachiko dropped down. Why else would she be here if Yusuke hadn't made it to Jusenkyo?

But then again why would Sachiko be here if Yusuke had gone to Jusenkyo? Unless he went there and was def-… No. Yusuke was too powerful. That couldn't be it!

Never!

Ranma rattled his head, giving Shampoo a hard glance that got her to flinch. The girl had never seen Ranma so serious, "We should get on outta here b-."

"Before I catch up to you, right hun?"

Damn it.

"Ain't this a bitch-," Ranma started with a grouse of frustration, slapping his hand against his forehead, not even needing to turn around to know Sachiko was standing behind him with a hand placed on her hip, "Sachiko?" Ranma finished, 'Heh, it took her no-time flat to get back on my tail,' Ranma sighed, 'So much for the easy road.'

"What's this, another lawbreaker?" Sachiko asked, feigning surprise as she locked eyes with Shampoo, "Oh, how fortunate for moi."

Shampoo's eyes narrowed, looking remarkably like a cat's slits, "Who you? Shampoo no break law."

"Aw, how cute," Sachiko cooed in a condescending fashion, "It would seem you haven't quite clasped our language, hun; though I supposed that's to be expected. Surely you can agree with my rationalization, hmm Xian Pu, alias Shampoo."

Shampoo's eye grew wide, "You know Shampoo real name, Amazonian-lineage too?" She looked at Ranma whom hadn't taken his eyes off of Sachiko, "You must be one who hurt Shampoo friend, come from Jusenkyo-place. Shampoo won't let you take her. No."

"Shampoo," Ranma said, his ferocious glaring look never leaving the eyes of Sachiko, as Shampoo would vouch for, "Lea-." His scowled deepened, a hint of desperation crept into his eyes, with Sachiko no longer in front of him and Shampoo, but above them, descending on them leading with her heel.

Shampoo gasped, "How rich-girl get there?" She could feel her bicycle levitating shakily, forcing her to hold onto the customer's ramen.

Ranma bent his back, chucking Shampoo's bicycle backwards with the girl herself on it away from Sachiko, subsequently doing multiple back-flips to get out of the way of Sachiko's ground-destroying heel-kick. So he expected.

After Ranma had completed seven speedy back-flips, masterfully catching Shampoo's bicycle before it could complete its fall, he noted Sachiko had landed on the road on her tip-toes, as soft as a feather, "Hm. Guess Miss Rich-lady can't splurge the loot on repairs," Ranma noted with a shake of his head, putting an awed Shampoo down. "Either-way that or she's just cheap. Heh. Here's thinkin' I should start calling her Mrs Krabs."

"I'm not even going to dignify that with a response."

"Seems to me you just did, Mrs Krabs," Ranma said with a cheeky smirk, earning himself a small glare from Sachiko for his troubles, "But I digress."

'Ranma really good, save Shampoo, himself too, really quickly,' Shampoo mused in awe before putting on a determined mask, 'Right. Shampoo not let friend die, she help him beat mean-lady.' But first thing came first.

Ranma's intrigue got him to turn his head at the sound of Shampoo dropping her bicycle, "Sup, 'Shamps? I didn't damage your bike did I?" Ranma asked, noticing Shampoo holding the wrapped-up, concealed ramen-noodles in her arms, before giving him a beaming smile.

"Shampoo help Ranma fight mean-lady, right after she deliver customer-meal. Can't be late again like was after Yusuke-airen eat other customer-meal," Shampoo said to a gobsmacked Ranma, waving her hand at him, "Chow."

"Shampoo! Don't hurl your butt ba-." Ranma tried to say to the retracting form of Shampoo, who took to the rooftops at frightening speeds.

"Oh, don't think for a minute I'll let you go, hun," Sachiko said, becoming a red blur, as she hurtled forward, an amused smirk coming to her face seeing Ranma standing before her with his arms held out, "Oh, please. We both know that isn't going to cut it hu-."

"Avitus!"

"Avi- Wha-?"

An golden explosion of immense dense Ki was emitted forcibly from Ranma's body, knocking Sachiko back.

**End of preview**

**Next time on the World's Strongest Man - It's Ranma vs. Sachiko!**


	12. A Martial Artist is Just That

**Disclaimer: I don't own YuYu Hakusho or Ranma 1/2**

**Peter Kim: You're right. The YuYu Hakusho-verse would utter annihilate the Ranma 1/2-verse with the slightest of ease. Even Kuwabara would walk into that verse and would be instantly Godlike. But, then again, one can't underestimate that lovable goofball Kuwabara. The dude's awesome. **

**Guys like Saffron and Herb would give the sannin from the Naruto-verse a decent fight before eventually losing, and the sannin ain't even that powerful in anime-terms. So, yeah, Ranma's a pretty weak verse with most of its top tiers being around building-level.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 12 <strong>

**A Martial Artist Is Just That…**

"This is, similar," Yusuke mumbled.

He was in another wide circular-shaped section of the fortress-esque company building of the Jusenkyo Preservation Society, but unlike the other ones he found this particular section held an odd resemblance to something he had seen before, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

So he observed: the walls were painted in three different colours, baby blue at the top, and lame light green at the bottom, with orange hippy-like flowers patterned in the corners. The flooring was a neat light green carpet to match apart of the walls.

On the left hand side of the wall was a quote - *Cowardliness is what separates the best from the rest.* Because no one ever expects the little guy, which would be Yusuke's witty guess.

On the other wall opposite to that quote was a portrait of a cartoonish lanky, scrawny man with a cheesy grin on his face, messy, wavy brown hair, and stubble situated on his chin. There was also a quote underneath his picture which read…

*Zoinks.*

"I know I've seen this somewhere."

"Rad, like, you actually got this far," Yusuke's musings were cut short from an awed-sounding voice. As the Urameshi looked in the direction he would be taking shortly, Yusuke found a lanky man wearing a pair of dark blue shades with a familiar grin on his face to the one the guy had in the picture-frame walking rather timidly towards him.

Yusuke glared darkly at the man which caused him to back up, "Well I'm here, aren't I?"

Gurubi gulped, "Yeah," Tugging on the collar of his shirt in a nervous manner, he adjusted himself in a shaky stance, "Like, I g-guess we should begin… right?"

"That'd seem mandatory," Yusuke mumbled in clarification, earning himself a reluctant sigh from the specs-wearing-man, "'Till," Gurubi perked up at this, "If ya don't wanna tussle it out with me to the death, you can always call it quits."

Gurubi's eyes shot wide open in debrief, "A-Are y-you serious?" Shady had to do a double take, "Like-." That green clad, black-haired tough-looking guy must've been a hallucination or something. One moment he was there and the next he was not, "Is my mind playing tricks on me?"

"Does it rain orange soda?"

Gurubi flinched, gasping audibly, "Zoinks!" His turned in the direction of the black haired man standing right by his side as if he had been there all day, "Far-out! Y-You speed-blitzed me so easily," He laughed in a weak fashion, "I think I'll take you up on your offer, and scram with mine and my pal's tails between our legs."

The pragmatic young powerhouse just hardened his glance, "Yeah. You do that."

"Will do," Gurubi assured, turning towards the corridor he had ventured out of, "Come here, boy. We're heading out of here!"

"Woof, woof," Yusuke raised his eyebrow at the chirpy bark of a dog.

A distinctive brown furred dog with black spots came pacing out of the corridor and towards Gurubi who cheerily bent down and patted him on the head.

"Dogs are mans' best friends," Yusuke said in a rhetorical fashion.

"Yeah. I know it's clichéd, but he's my best pal," Gurubi grinned, while the dog licked his face, "Haha, okay, boy, cut that out."

"Well, it's a good thing that you decided to bail while you could," Yusuke said, getting a nod of agreement from Gurubi, "Otherwise this coulda ended up bad for you and your friend."

"I must say, dude, when I heard there were two guys with enough strength to bust down our main door, I was shaking in my boots, but you turned out to be an okay guy," Gurubi said.

"I'm just here to see to it that my friend's problems are wiped clean," Yusuke explained, "If anyone of you turn out to be diehards that I have to put in body bags, then so be it. I'd rather avoid doing so, though. Regardless of my killing policy, this company's 'till going down to the ground."

Gurubi nodded his head in slight sadness. He did personally enjoy working here and felt he was doing the right thing for the earth's benefit after signing up here a few years ago for another particular reason. However, he wasn't stupid enough to continue fighting a losing cause.

This guy's only intent was to bring this company down. Get in his way and he would kill you without mercy. Shady sort of respected that mentality, if only for the fact that he got a chance to live.

"Well, thanks ah-."

"Yusuke."

"Gurubi. But my friends call me Shady."

"Shades it is then."

Shades smiled, standing up fully to his feet and patting his dog on the head, "Well, it was… different meeting you, Yusuke. And thanks for not slaying my behind," Yusuke let out a hum of acknowledgement, "Now Tabemono and I can head to that five-star luxury restaurant we were planning to go to," That put a pensive but somewhat fearful expression on his face, "That reminds me, you didn't happen to run into my pal, Tabemono, by any chance?"

"Tabemono? Who's he?"

"He's a sumo wrestler, big guy, you know? Though if I remember correctly he was stationed in one of the sections your pal should or might have already passed by now."

"Hiei's heading to the guy? That ain't good news for him. Hiei's the sorta guy to strike first and ask questions never, and I mean what I say."

Shades' eyes grew wide and even the dog could even the sadness radiating off of his master, but he could do nothing other than let out a few sympathetic whimpers, while softly knocking his head encouragingly against Shades' arm.

"Then-?"

"Sorry, Shades."

That was all he needed to say for Shades to get the message loud and clear.

Yusuke could feel the hostility in the section raise ten folds over.

"Come Scoobs," Gurubi said in a forlorn manner, "Let's go."

Once Gurubi and his dog had walked off, Yusuke felt the need to curse underneath his breath. He didn't even feel the need to say, "Booyah. I knew I seen this get-up somewhere."

"I feel almost as rotten as a bad apple."

XxX

(Meanwhile – Outskirts of Nerima - With Ranma)

XxX

*Sigh*

He was hyped.

He truly was.

He had just finished waxing off Yu-chan's cooked meal for him.

Afterwards he had found a picture frame of Yu-chan with some people, three of which really stood out. The first one wasn't too distinctive. He just had red hair like his girl-form and kind of resembled his girl-form. It was weird and creepy.

The other one was a pretty young lady with distinctive blue hair, so Ranma, in the sense of having unusual red hair sort of related to her. And the last person, who struck out like a thorn in Ranma's side, was another cute young woman; only she had normal brown hair. Yusuke had his hand on the attractive girl's shoulder and was giving the camera a thumbs-up.

The girl was very pretty, so what more does Yusuke want? It seemed like a win-win for Yusuke. So why did it bother Ranma at the thought of someone else getting Yusuke? He didn't want him but the thought of someone else having Yusuke to herself really tore at Ranma.

It must be the curse.

Shoving that aside Ranma felt more motivated than ever to rush off to China and show Yusuke he wasn't a liability, he was an asset. A damned good one too. He was. He was so damn good in fact the friggin' swat force just gave all of their top-pros the boot to make him the own soldier, whom will solo every mission!

But there was just one problem.

'Yeah, one itsy bitsy problem,' Ranma thought bitterly.

How does he get to China?

"Well, here's a dead-end if there ever was one," Ranma mumbled, arms crossed over his chest as he gazed at the ocean, "Rats, how'd Yu-chan make it to Jusenkyo then?"

Ranma put on his proverbial thinking-cap, folding one of his arms around his torso to use it as a ramp-of-sorts for his right elbow, his right hand cupping his chin, "Come to think of it I don't remember ever hearing Yu-chan say how he's gonna zip from A to B."

"Idiot. He probably wasn't even using his empty-headed noggin when he just upped and decided to go ham on the Jusenkyo-creeps," Ranma shook his head, though let out a few snickers, "He's the same as 'P-chan'. No wonder he chose to train him. They're two idiots of the same coin."

Ranma sighed.

"If Yu-chan wasn't so damn impulsive and didn't have a stick up his ass – the smug bastard – then me 'n him coulda parked our butts, shook up our brain-cells in a blender, poured out the contents, and come up with a simple easy solution to get from here, all the way to friggin' Albuquerque."

It was quite simple really.

"Maybe he realized he ain't goin' anywhere, unless he drunk a can of red-bull to spout wings from his butt," Ranma said, snorting at the very thought of such an absurd method of travel. "He probably headed home to chow down on some grub," Ranma smirked deviously, "Ain't he in for a welcoming surprise."

Ranma folded his arms behind his head, whirling around, "Guess I'll head back to Granny's. Might as well get in some training; I'll pop back here in the morning or sumthin ta check on Akane," A teasing smirk appeared on his face, "Or should I say Hibiki-san. Whoa, guess pig-boy doesn't have ta go pig ta hop in her bed from today onwards, if what the old ghoul says is true. Either-way, another fiancée bites the dust."

Ranma had to say, he owed Yusuke one in this point. If it wasn't for the supremely powerful young man who knows what might have occurred in the near future.

Ranma could've gone on to marry Akane; never having a proper understanding of a healthy relationship, just doing exactly what his father wanted him to do, not for him, but for himself, and Mr Tendo.

Both Ranma and Akane had been played like check-pieces and would've stayed Genma's and Soun's king and queen pieces if not for the intervention of one Urameshi.

If the wolf-fanged young man hadn't shown up, instead of Ranma tying the knot to Akane something even worse could've happened, or continued in this instance; an endless cycle. Nothing would change.

Akane and Ranma would squabble.

Ranma would say something insulting.

Akane would pen Ranma into orbit.

Akane would make Ranma something to eat.

Ranma would try to sneak away.

Akane would find Ranma and an argument ensues.

Another insult would come from the pigtailed martial artist's mouth.

Then he would fly off to his vocation to the moon via Akane's fist.

Rinse and repeat.

"Yeah, Yu-chan sure dragged my ass outta that loop," Ranma mumbled. Maybe that was why he admired the young man so (much).

His presence and assertiveness brought about a change in the life of Ranma Saotome, moving away from the craziness of everyone trying to get into his pants, or in some cases, skirt for either his manhood or his womanhood.

Yusuke actually listened to Ranma.

He was rarely prone to violence and even when he was, Yusuke was on hand to realize his mistake. That right there puts him leaps and bounds higher than Akane. Ranma could wholeheartedly say he won that clash of heads in a way earlier today against Yusuke.

If it was Akane, Ranma would've been a losing wuss, but against Yusuke he was a winner.

Most of all Yusuke gave Ranma a goal: to stand and to fight alongside him as his equal.

"Ya better move over Yu-chan 'cause I ain't stayin' in the back of the bus, I'mma comin' up there in the driver's seat! Yer can ride shotgun!" Ranma said cheerfully

Now with his resolve burning stronger than ever to reach Yusuke's level, Ranma prepared to hurry off back to Granny's to train.

Or he would've if it wasn't for the bright flashing light shining downwards from the direction of the sky, forcing Ranma to squint his eyes, and use his forearm as a shield.

"Where the heck is that damn light comin' from?" Ranma asked grumpily. The luminous white light was so infuriating. It was so difficult to make out the source of it, what with it being so bright, all Ranma could make out was a blur.

Stupid crummy tunnel vision.

As the light seemed to get brighter, Ranma picked up on an obnoxious grinding noise. It was subtle at first but it picked up more and more. From the noise, the pigtailed martial artist was picturing bladed weapons clattering together while in a spinning rotation of sorts.

"Ranma Saotome I can take it. Do what grounds of honour do yourself have to owe to be graced with a presence such as myself, hun."

Ranma snapped his head up, "How'd ya know my name?" He narrowed his eyes, staring fiercely up at a woman dressed classily, standing on the edge of a helicopter, "Hey, lady, just who the hell are ya anyway?!"

"Hmm. Well I see you have no shortage of manners, hun," Sachiko said sarcastically. He really was that vile man's friend, "As for who I am… well," She let out a laugh filled with malice, and to Ranma's perspective eyes, chose to commit suicide.

"The hell! Are ya whacked off of your head, lady?!" Ranma shouted, galloping over to the woman to 'save' her life.

Ranma's senses caught the intense surge of a strange unknown emotional Ki.

His head snapped up like a whip, his eyes wide at the pinkish-red aura shrouded woman descending right towards him with a manifested bird-like form taking shape around her foot.

"Whoa!"

Ranma elegantly hand-sprung out of the way, narrowly-avoiding the phoenix-esque foot of the brown haired woman rupturing the ground, rendering it as messed up as a mushed-up birthday cake.

"Hey, whatcha do that for?"

"Sachiko, your death."

Sachiko only finished her introduction coolly, giving Ranma a malevolent smirk.

Ranma bristled, "My death, eh," He muttered crossly, though he peered at the destroyed ground afterwards, "That kick, it woulda left me boneless," He let out a humourless laugh, "Falcon eat your heart out, bud."

Indulging herself to Ranma's reaction to the little display of her catastrophic kicking strength, she knew she'd made the right call coming here, 'So, he's clearly not as strong as that vile man. Just splendid, I do love it when the momentum swings in the good guys' favour, clichéd as it is,' Sachiko purred mentally, "So, shall we begin dear? I would prefer not to take too long. I have other arrangements to tend to."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, hold the phone, lady!" Ranma hurried, flailing his hands around frantically, "Yer don't mean yer wanna throw down right here, do yer?"

Sachiko was slightly amused by the boy's speech mechanisms.

"Well, but of course," Sachiko confirmed, "Will that be a problem, hun?"

"Well, yeah," Ranma said, offering the lady a shrug, "You're a girl."

"Ha!" Sachiko laughed at such an audacious stance, "You've seen just the kind of devastation I can unleash, but yet you're still protesting on not fighting me because of my gender leaning in the femininity area? Hehe. You know, I don't know whether to call a brute such as yourself arrogant or uneducated."

"Mebbies, but fact as the matter is, yer 'till a gal, and I don't fight gals," The complete straight-face of the cursed boy let Sachiko know his decision was final, like that of a judge's in a trial, "Sorry," Ranma turned his back on Sachiko, allowing his feet to carry him away from the woman.

"And you actually think that's judicious of you, like you have a choice in the matter," Sachiko shook her head, more to herself than to Ranma, "I have to wonder was you dropped on your head as a baby, hun. Never mind," Sachiko flexed her smooth creamy leg, keeping her hands on her hips, "Life lesson number one, hun; you never turn your back on an assassin after you've broken the law."

Before Ranma could really process the woman's words, he felt a tremendously powerful gust of wind push the lone pigtail of his black hair over his shoulder with vehemence, leaving it suspended in mid-flight.

'Fast!' Ranma thought, looking at the back of the woman whom had sped in front of him, leaving damaged ground in her place, gritting his teeth.

Sachiko showed the boy her impressive flexibility, lifting up her leg all the way to her shoulder, thus hopefully hitting Ranma in the face.

The pigtailed martial artist instinctively bent his body backwards in a beautiful show of flexibility of his own.

Not letting one missed attempt get her down, Sachiko rolled with the kick, seamlessly letting the momentum of her own move carry her backwards to the point where it looked as if she was about to fall on the pigtailed martial artist. She used her implanted knee, propelling herself skywards, and rotating her whole body around.

Ranma was on the same wavelength as her, because he too subsequently finished off his hand-stand, blocking Sachiko's double leg stomp, which sunk the ground in.

Sachiko let a smirk adorn her features, hopping off of the boy's feet and gracefully landing on her own several feet away from the pigtailed martial artist. The classy tae-kwon-do expert took a moment to survey the young man's expression: defensive quickly came to mind.

'So, he's going to remain strictly defensive and pray for an opening to get away from me. Quite clever,' Sachiko lunged at Ranma, whom stood in his defensive stance, 'But not quite so smart. It's so stereotypical of trailer-trash to fall short.'

Sachiko half-clenched her hand as if she was readying herself for a punch, but she never fully made the fist; just pulled her arm backwards like an archer firing a bow, prompting Ranma to glide back on his heels quite a bit due to Sachiko's superior reach.

Down low she went with a vicious kick, the force of it creating an aura of wind around her leg. Ranma leaped high into the air in swift evasion, but the gleam in Sachiko's eye didn't give the young man the impression he had miffed her with his expert dodging ability.

Sachiko took two blinding fast steps forward, then bent her left leg, using it like a trampoline to blast herself upwards, her right leg cocking to the side and her eyes honing in on Ranma.

'Rats. Those first two strikes were nothin' but a ruse to lure me into her mince trap,' Ranma braced himself for the impact by holding up his arm diagonally, 'And I just had to nosedive straight into it like there was grub on it.'

The pain to come was like the equivalent of a wrecking-ball exploding into a house. Ranma let out a bloodcurdling scream; feeling like his entire arm just got blown to smithereens from Sachiko's tremendous kick being delivered to his arm.

Ranma practically flew away from Sachiko, powering through several air-rings on the way to a painful stop in a crater the size of a skateboarding hole.

"Damn it," Ranma groaned, coughing out blood, "She's strong. If I don't release my Ki from their Ki-imprisoning cuffs, I'm as good as toast!"

Sachiko landed on the ground elegantly, propping one hand on her hip, "So," She started slowly, a satisfied smile on her face as she stalked over to her pray, observing her handiwork with a hawk-eye, "Do I have your mighty consideration, oh-so wondrous Samaritan-san? Or should I just put you out of your misery?"

Ranma coughed, moving his elbows to his sides as a clutch to help him sit up, albeit shakily. He wobbled, but he managed to lift his bottom off of the ground, only to fall on his knees, much to Sachiko's amusement since she chuckled mockingly.

Ranma pounded the ground, willing himself back to his feet with one final push, shaking about.

Ranma huffed, "Yer cruisin' for a bruisin' girly."

"Hehe. So old-fashioned, and quite ironic coming from the lawbreaker," Sachiko said with a giggle, giving Ranma a pointed look, "Wouldn't you agree, Ranma-_chan_?"

Ranma's eyes widened at the emphasis she put on the honorific 'chan', which was usually used for girls, but could also be used for boys, such as brothers, lovers, grandfathers, and close friends. Lawbreaker - the woman implied she knew of Ranma's curse just after showing up out of nowhere to fight him?

It was exactly like the time that big swordsman dude came down to kidnap all the cursed residents of Nerima because they had supposedly broken Jusenkyo's law by abusing their curse-forms for their own desires. Then this could only mean one thing.

"Yer must be from Jusenkyo," Ranma exclaimed.

The former hired assassin of the Jusenkyo Preservation Society clapped her hands together in a mock applause of the Saotome's rationalizing exclamation, "Oh, well done dear. You figured out my reasoning for being here. And it only took you, say, five minutes, tops! Well done."

"And here I thought ya were just another cuckoo fiancée promised to me behind my back by my raggedy ass pops," Ranma said with a sharp-tongue, "That, or ya were just another off-the-rocker resident crawling outta the woodwork. This place has more nut-jobs than a hole in the ground does ants."

"Oh, honey, I have better far more luxurious areas to live in then a low-life scum one such as this. It's merely a home for your kind: trailer-trash," Sachiko said, looking at her nails.

"Then why don't cha take your dimes and bugger off to your first-class home to count 'em in your sleep!" Ranma quipped snappily.

Sachiko let out an almost wistful sigh, "Be my desire to head and have a pleasure-loving dip in my Jacuzzi as it may, I fear I cannot. Lawbreakers are just such-. I'm sorry; you probably don't want to hear of my trivial dilemmas. I know how envious your kind can be of the more fortunate."

"Yer really starting to piss me off, lady," Ranma's rising ire came out in a louder than normal murmur.

"Oh," Sachiko feigned innocence like that of a baby's, "Then why don't you come try and release that pent-up frustration, hun, seeing as you're lacking the sufficient funds to get yourself a manicure. That is, unless you're not woman enough."

Ranma scowled, "Why you-?" He tussled threateningly, receiving a delightful, yet challenging look and stance from Sachiko.

"_Girls are stupid, weak, and a distraction from the art_." Genma's words echoed throughout Ranma's head, freezing him in place. He remembered them well when his pop had stated such, eight years ago, when Ranma asked him where his mother was.

Genma told him his mother had died due to her own stupidity, for a lack of a better term, and her own poor physical condition. Genma went on to say how she'd almost caused his own downfall - though he did not blame her - simply by getting in the way of his training.

After hearing that entire informative story, deep down Ranma somewhat resented girls due to not getting hugged enough by his mother, but at the same time he understood from Genma's words that they were frail people and he should not hit them in the fear of accidentally maiming them.

"Oh? You're content on dying by my hands," Sachiko said with a frown, "What a shame, hun. We could've had such a wondrous battle, but if you insist on sticking to your gentleman persona I can dispose of you immediately," To Ranma's immediate guard, Sachiko rose her leg up, twisting it around in a complete 360 spin in an enchanting fashion.

Her cartwheel-movement looked as if it was going in slow-motion mode, but the after-images it was leaving in its wake proved to Ranma that it wasn't.

"Shit, she'll kick my pan in with that," Ranma grumbled, setting himself in a typical cowboy-like stance as Sachiko propped her right leg to her side, "There's only one move in my arsenal that'll match hers blow for blow."

"**Jinsokuna Misairu Kōgeki (Rapid Missile Assault)**!"

"**Kachü Tenshin Amaguriken: (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open fire)**!"

The sound of an explosion sounded out tremendously, while blinding solid air-pressures clashed into each other, causing convulsions. Spider-web-like cracks were appearing, opening up like a ravine. Giant pieces of rock soared upwards, but even as solid as they were, they still couldn't withstand the intense shockwaves, succumbing to them and turning into pebbles!

The shockwaves died down at last.

"Interesting," Sachiko observed, half-enlivened, half-curious by this, one arm wrapped around her torso, with her free hand holding her chin, "You say you don't want to fight but you instinctively sought to defend yourself upon being attacked."

"Yeah," Ranma said, using the respite to take in a couple of deep breaths, "Colour me oblivious, but I ain't exactly buoyed-up to be turned into a flat-sided zombie."

"Oh touché," Sachiko replied with a giggle, darting straight for Ranma, "I suppose we shall do this the hard way, right mademoiselle?"

"I'm a guy, damn it!"

"Well, oui, which means yes in French by the way, dear. Oui, you are a male right now, but not twenty four-seven, oui. Otherwise-." The dancing feet of Sachiko swiftly moved her from side to side slickly, giving Ranma the impression there were two Sachikos, before they both upped and disappeared.

Ranma released a yelp from his throat; the sudden breeze knocking the back of his white-vest to the side let him know where Sachiko was. He barely had time to think; instead he leaped forward, his head inches away from getting sliced off by a materialized energy beam-like crescent moon-shaped shockwave, shaving a few bits off Ranma's hair.

While Ranma front-flipped on his index finger, the ground rolled up like a sandwich.

Sachiko touched the damaged ground once again.

"…-You wouldn't be here defending yourself from my attacks, would you love?"

Ranma glowered, silently conceding the powerful kicking woman had a point while he touched his pigtail to make sure it was intact. The curse. It always came back to the curse. It was just all the more reason to hate it.

'But wait? If I'm a girl then I can fight back and cream her ass,' Ranma thought with a smirk, turning towards the ocean. He was going to full on sprint into it, submerge as a girl, and go ham on Sachiko's classy spoiled behind.

"_I dunno how Lard-ass has influenced your baby brain so badly, but I'm gonna laid on ya straight Red, there's gals who can go toe-to-toe with me every day, and have a good chance of whooping my ass._"

Ranma paused, eyes wide at the harsh words of his friend.

Ranma remembered how those words had cut deep within him, he pushed them back far within the deepest corners of his mind, but they were there as a constant reminder of his friend's cruel, harsh truthful words.

Ranma clenched his fist tight at his side. How could he make eye-contact with Yusuke-chan if he couldn't stand his ground against one wom-, no, _opponent_? How could Ranma stand alongside Yusuke, arrogantly calling himself his equal, if he couldn't carry his own weight?

When the going got tough the tough was meant to get going.

Lady or no lady, there was no other way Ranma could get out of this, unless he stalls her long enough for Yusuke to come find him and beat her, but that would be contradictory to what he wanted. Wouldn't it? Right. Ranma wanted to stand by Yusuke's side as his equal, not as his lesser relying on Yusuke to fight for him.

Ranma had to fight back against this formidable opponent despite her gender. Maybe that wouldn't be so bad in the long run. After all, he had fought Cologne and even Genkai when the woman first put the spirit cuffs on him and he had no qualms of fighting them.

'If Yu-chan was here he woulda mowed this lady down with his hands tied behind his back.' Ranma mused dejectedly, 'I ain't gonna be able to look at him in the eye if he finds out how lame I am right now,' Ranma shook his head, a fierce glare of determination on his face, "I've gotta bust out the ol' Saotome Anything Goes style and show this lad-."

His feet leaving the ground forced his strengthening resolve to pause in its tracks, as he waved his arms about.

A lot of saliva erupted from Ranma's mouth. The martial artist felt as if a heavy ton massive sledgehammer was slammed in his back packed with vast amounts of potency, driving him skywards as if he was a rocket.

"Did you really think I was just going to let you monologue all night hun? Please, I would like to finish this fight sometime in the near future. I'm running on a tight schedule. I have to tend bunch with Father among other important duties, not that I expect you to know," Sachiko said.

'Rats, I took my eye off the birdie. I'mma hafta up my game,' Pops taught him better. That was one thing he had to give his father credit for, readying him for the challenges he would face in the near future. But that didn't mean he was going to roll over and marry Akane like a good little boy just because pops wanted him to. No way.

Ranma attempted to adjust himself in mid-flight, but winced from the soreness of his body, "Aw, my body ain't made outta steel like Yu-chan's and pig-boy's! I'm gonna hafta play guard, and release my true power from its cell," Even now, having been forcibly sent on a trip to the clouds, the smart-mouthed martial artist still couldn't stop talking smack.

"Avit-." But before Ranma could fully complete the release command, Sachiko zipped right in front of him in a blur of speed. Widening his eyes, he barely had the time to get his left arm up, right before a monumental forceful impact of a high-heel clad foot was hammered into his arm, powering it towards his cheek. Ranma's own arm curved his cheek inwards, making blood fly from his mouth before the power of Sachiko's roundhouse-kick sent him bombing away through more rings of air, and over to the town.

Before gravity could reclaim its hold on Sachiko, she caught the barest glimpse of a diminutive explosion.

"Oh dear, I should be more careful, lest I want to end up eradicating the town. Father would not be pleased with me at all."

XxX

(The vice-chairman's office)

XxX

"Aaaaahh." The vice-captain winced in an extremely high-pitched voice.

Where was Kinnii? No. No. Where was he? He couldn't be-?

No. He was the company's top dog, the cream of the crop, and only the quadruplets of Chiyuki, Jiro, the newest traitor Gurubi, and the lazy ass Kazumu could even come close to his level since they all wore purple like him. Yet he just disappeared off of the monitor after the little intruder, who had been completely slicing through every opponent who got in his way like a hot knife through butter, ventured near his section.

The vice-chairman could feel his heart rate increase and he staggeringly grabbed at his chest as if he had been shot.

The taller invader had taken on Chiyuki and was clearly more compassionate to an extent than the other devilish home-wrecker. He tried to convince Chiyuki to turn tail and run but of course she wasn't like those cowards Gurubi or Sachiko, and chose to stand her ground like a true loyal member of the Jusenkyo Preservation Society.

She met a painful end once she had insulted the boy's momma.

"Kazumu! Kazumu!" The vice-chairman yelled frantically, sprinting over to his sole remaining soldier and grabbing him by the collar, trying to forcibly shake him awake, "Get up, boy! Get up, now! I need you to protect me!"

Kazumu groaned tiredly, slowly opening his bleary eyes, "Boss, Kin-."

"I think he's gone!"

"How do you know?"

"Take a look!"

Kazumu gave the monitor a one-over, "O," Just from that mere scan he could tell Kinnii was no longer in the vicinity, meaning he had either left willingly through the destroyed front door, or he had been forcibly exiled in a body bag. Remembering who he was going to face Kazumu would put his money on the latter, "Aw, shit."

"See!" The cowering vice-chairman said in a victorious manner, desperately trying to pull the lazy soldier off of his chair, "I-it's… all on you to defend the Jusenkyo Preservation Society's honour, boy! Y-You've got to do this for m-, I mean us!"

"What the hell can I do, really?" Kazumu asked.

That was a fair, realistic, down-to-earth observation made by Kazumu. Sure he along with Jiro, Gurubi, Chiyuki, and Kinnii had reached a prestigious rank, made evident by the purple they wore, but he was by far the weakest link. Even Shady's power toppled his in the power rank of the Five Star Elites of the Jusenkyo Preservation Society.

If they couldn't even trouble these powerful rouged assassins what chance did he have realistically?

"I say as soon as they come we drop to our knees, and beg for our lives like girls," Kazumu said, straight-faced, the vice-chairman letting go of him to give him a bewildered expression, "That's our best bet. And yes, I'm serious, dead serious," The boss let go of him, backing away from him with a disbelieving expression on his face, "Be real, boss, there's no way I can beat those guys. It's like my great grandfather said, 'When all else fails, you can always surrender, and live to fight another day'."

"I can't believe what I'm hearing!" The boss said, trembling.

"Believe it, boss. This company's over," Kazumu wasn't going to sugar coat it. They were screwed beyond all hope.

"Fine!" The vice-chairman pouted furiously, "If you don't want to do it then I will myself!"

"What can you do? You're walking in death row this very minute."

"That wasn't me," Kazumu stated, tuning out the wince coming from his former boss to give the impassive little intruder his half-lidded attention.

"Yes, I can see that! Thank you very much traitor!" The vice-chairman shouted, getting a shrug from Kazumu. Regardless of his fear, the vice-chairman sucked it down and faced Hiei with a bead of sweat rolling down his cheek, "So, you made it all this way, did you? T-That's i-impressive, but I fear it's time to put you juvenile delinquents in your places."

"You and what army?" Hiei interrogated, keeping strictly in the bad-cop persona; never moving a muscle even when observing the spineless old man scurry off to his desk, fling open his drawer, before frantically fishing around in there with clear desperation evident on his old wrinkled face.

"Where is it? Where is it?" The old man hurried, hastily drawing out a small uzi-sub machine gun with a winning grin on his face, "Ah, here it is!" He pointed it at the unimpressed-looking Hiei, "Me and this army, brat!"

"Please. You're just delaying your inevitable death."

"We'll just see about that!" The vice-chairman let off a round of shots at Hiei.

The midget demonic being's only response to that was to hurl his arm out to the side, releasing an object of such sheer magnitude it looked like a blank silhouette with black blobs trailing in its wake. The 'blob' travelled at such ferocity it knocked every bullet the vice-chairman fired off, off course before hitting the gun out of his hand.

"Aaaahh!" The vice-chairman recoiled out of fear from what he saw after the 'blob' had fallen to the ground and materialized to reveal what it was, "N-No, t-t-t-t-that c-can't be."

Kinnii, or what was left of him – his head – was lying on the ground with a horrified expression on his bullet-holes lidded blooded-up face. The second in command of the Jusenkyo Preservation Society could only raise his head up, slowly, but surely, turning as white as a ghost at the unmerciful killer standing before him.

"W-What a-are y-you?" His asked stutteringly.

"…The reaper of death," Hiei murmured, his voice lacing with grimness.

"Well that's my cue," Kazumu said, using his backside to push his seat away from him so he could drop to his knees, bowing his head profusely, "Please. I ask, no, I implore you to spare me. I'm no match for you, and I do not wish to lose my life over something as trivial as this, sir."

"KAZUMU, YOU TRAITOR!"

Kazumu deadpanned an expression at his former boss, "It's over, just accept your _defeat _already, and he _may_ let you go."

"You foolish boy! Are you so ignorant that you haven't got the company's motto down by now," The vice-chairman bitched.

"No, I'm just not dumb enough to throw away my life for nothing," Kazumu insisted languidly, "You shouldn't be that dumb either, unless you're trying to tell me you're really that senile old man."

"Senile! You ignorant brat! How dare you! I've been working at this great company for over forty five years now! There's no way I'll let one juvenile delinquent bring it down!" The sound of a door opening up silenced the preaching old man into submission.

"Sheesh. That stupid fucking bitch; she had her chance to walk away with her life, but _no_, she had to come off like she's bad, and diss my _momma_," Yusuke ranted with a grimace, "Oh no, no, no, no, no, she didn't. That's like a geezer picking 'ask the audience' on 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire'. Only instead of having a nine times out of ten guaranteed ticket to the next round it's a shoo-in for a ride to the fiery flames of the underworld."

This one time the half-demon really had no remorse for the fool he slayed.

"Humph. Go diss mommas there, bitch!"

"You were saying, old man," Kazumu said to the frozen vice-chairman.

"You're late." Hiei declared.

"Better late than never," Yusuke retorted, eyeing the bowed Kazumu and the quivering vice-chairman, "So this is the end of the line."

"Aw, man. This is not my day," Kazumu groaned.

"Ah. Sounds to me you don't wanna take us on," Yusuke guessed with a taunting smirk, "That's smart."

"I don't. And I ain't that smart." He just had common sense, "I only got this job because my mother was nagging at me that I don't do shit around the house."

Yusuke could relate to that, "Seen. I know how that feels."

"Yeah."

"Well," Yusuke jerked his thumb behind himself, "If you've been viewing me on cable TV then you know my policy." Kuzumu didn't even need another second to mull it over. He simply hopped up to his feet in a lazy fashion.

"Right," Kazumu said with his stoned-look never changing, "I'm out of here."

"Kazumu! You can't! You work here! You have to fight them no matter what! It's in your contact boy!" The vice-chairman stated in near panic. He was about to lose his last line of defence. He had to do something to hold onto him.

Kazumu merely reached into his pocket, pulling out a box of what appeared to be cigarettes, but what he pulled out of the box wasn't as neat-looking as a cigarette, "The contact that's about to be permanently revoked, right? Sureeeee. I'm really tied down," He tossed a lazy wave over his shoulder, before starting to amble his way towards the door Yusuke walked out of.

"You can't leave! I won't let you!" The vice-chairman picked up his gun and shot at his employee. Kazumu's half lidded eyes turned sharp, the man kicking a desk chair towards himself, lifting it up, and using it as a shield to protect himself from the bullets, "No!"

"Pathetic," Kazumu said, throwing the messed up chair down, "Your pride will be the death of you. Literally." With that he continued on his way to safety.

"What's that?" Yusuke enquired, noticing what was held in between Kazumu's fingers wasn't a cigarette.

"A spliff."

"Ah. A smoker, eh."

"Yeah. You smoke?"

"Course. Mainly cigarettes, though; never smoked a spliff before."

Kazumu held out his cigarette-box filled with marijuana to Yusuke, "Then you don't know what you're missing. Trust me. Take one. It's on me. It's the least I could do, since, well, you know, you sort of let me live and all."

"Don't mind if I do," Yusuke gratefully took a spliff out of the box, "I appreciate the offering. Whaddya go by anyway, dude?"

"Kazumu Yamagata. You?"

"Yusuke Urameshi. If you're ever in Nerima stop by Good Burger sometime. We'll hang."

"Sure." Kazumu said, wooden splinters falling in the spot where he stood, a gaping hole in the ceiling and no Kazumu.

"Notta bad geezer at all I must say," Yusuke grinned at his newly-required spliff, before tucking it away in his front shirt-pocket, setting his sights on a bewildered vice-chairman afterwards, who was trying to fathom what just happened.

"N-No. It can't be. That traitor Kazumu just made friends with a rouged criminal. Has the world lost its mind?" The vice-chairman said, wincing as he saw the two boys strolling casually towards him, "No! Stay away from me!"

"You're still too soft," Hiei stated, ignoring the quivering man as he met Yusuke in the centre of the room.

"Meh. I can't laid waste to a nice guy like that now, can I?" Yusuke asked in a jestingly manner, getting a roll of the eyes from Hiei, "But even 'till, douchebags like that guy have already been added to my killing-list before I even meet 'em."

"N-No, s-stay a-away me, you monsters!" The vice-chairman commanded with a terrified yelp.

"Ain't that the kettle calling the pot black," Yusuke quipped, snickering, "You were gonna slaughter Red just 'cause she changed into a girl a few times."

"That's because they're monsters, they all are! From Ranma, to Ryoga, to Mousse, to Shampoo, and to Genma! Don't you understand you foolish boy! They all must die for abusing their curses, how can you not understand such a simple fact!? They're disrupting the peace we worked so hard to maintain! They must die!" The vice-chairman grabbed at his chest with both hands, falling to his knees, "M-My h-heart! Oh lord, I t-think I'm h-having a hea-."

He said no more as he collapsed face first onto the cold tiled flooring.

"Huh?" Yusuke wondered dumbly.

Hiei strode up to the unfortunate fool and knocked him a few times with his foot, simultaneously checking for a reiki-signature with his keen senses, "He's dead."

"Oh. Well that blows," Yusuke pouted in annoyance, sprinting up to the deceased man and booting his head clean off of his shoulders as if it were a soccer ball, sending it flying and crashing through the walls of the company's building, "He didn't even give us a chance to kick his ass, I wanna retry. Do over, motherfucker!"

Hiei smirked at Yusuke's brutal, merciless display, "There's hope for you yet."

"Yeah, yeah, just call me Yusuke – the killing prodigy," The half-demon quipped, rubbing the side of his neck, "Look, I got work in a like, what? A few hours, I think. I gotta get some shut eye If I can. Legs just soar on outta here and blow dis place to Kingdom come!" At this, Hiei's smirk dropped from his features, returning to its expressionless one.

"Sure."

The surrounding walls were blown to pieces, with the ceiling collapsing in on itself, seemingly burying the glowing assassins in its endless masses of rubble. A couple of blurs exploded out of the roof of the once proud fortress-like building.

Hiei and Yusuke stood casually on the very air itself, one – the former – surrounded by a dark devilish purple aura, the other – the latter – shrouded in an armour of blinding blue light from head to toe. The one coated in blue smirked, cracking his knuckles, adjusting his index finger downward, shaping it into a gun with an almost rhythmic-like humming sound echoing throughout the air.

"So-long ya-." He stopped himself from destroying the building when a tap landed on his shoulder.

"You got to take down the door," Hiei stated, allowing his hand to slip from Yusuke's shoulder, "It's my turn."

"That's why you leg me smash our way in, 'cause you wanted to be the one to wipe this screwy place off of the map?" Yusuke gaped and Hiei nodded, "Clever dick," Yusuke crossed his arms with a pout, "Fine! Screw with my fun why don't cha."

Hiei nodded, calmly raising his arm to channel his deathly reiki into it. His arm was shrouded in his satanic aura, though the more he flared up his aura, the hotter it became, to the point where Yusuke could feel the intense heat radiating off of Hiei's arm. The colouring of his aura around his arm switched from dark purple, to an reddish-orange one before Hiei pointed his index and middle fingers at the building.

The flame-like aura was purged from his arm and travelled its way to its master's chosen destination: the building of the Jusenkyo Preservation Society. They not only surrounded the building, but also the entire mountain in a ring-formation. Simply lifting up his fingers as if he were saluting, Hiei's booming voice could be heard even in Russia.

"**Jigoku Wa, Ikari Ni Wa Dōtō no o Motte Imasen** (**Hell Has No Equal in Fury**)!"

A comprehensive flame heat-dome submerged from the flaming ring and engulfed everything in its wake.

"Damn," Yusuke let out, laughing a tad sheepishly, as he watched the blazing fire do its job, "Way to put on the fireworks. I can see someone's been drinking their milk."

"I've been training for this past year," Hiei said coolly, "To defeat whoever gets in my way in the next Makai tournament."

"Including your lover?" Yusuke teased.

Hiei turned his head away from him, "Spare me. I could care less of that woman. As far as I'm concerned you, Kurama, and her will be nothing but obstacles come time the Makai-tournament begins, ones I will overcome on my way to the throne."

"Whatever you say, Hiei."

"You sure you want to leave that last fool alive. You know what I'm referring to."

"I do. And I say just leave him be. He's nothin'. Even Blindly would murk him and that says something."

"Fine. Then take care of yourself, and don't get slacking off. I'd hate for the founder of the Makai-tournament to go AWOL before the second tournament begins."

"Course. I wouldn't miss going one round with the only fire demon of his tribe for the world."

XxX

(With Ranma)

"Kick my butt to South Beach why don't cha," Ranma groaned painfully, lying in a fairly deep crater in the ground, covered in scrapes and cuts, with his white vest having multiple holes tore into it.

Ranma hacked up blood, but managed to sit up, looking around. Debris dust was all over a few buildings, as were many cracks, and a lamppost was snapped in half. Fortunately, it was late at night and most of the shops were closed for the night.

"Aiyaa, boy-Ranma!"

Yeah, most of them were closed, not all.

"Shampoo?" A dumbstruck Ranma mumbled in an enquiring fashion, lifting himself to his feet while keeping a hold on his left arm which had a nasty, sickly-looking comprehensive bruise on it from the powerful kick Sachiko had blasted into it, "Whatcha doin' out here?"

Shampoo rode up to Ranma, and for once decided not to use his face as a parking lot, to which Ranma was grateful for. He didn't know how much more damage he could take let alone withstanding any more unnecessary ones.

"Great Grandmother send Shampoo out for late delivery run," Shampoo explained, pointing to the wrapped-up ramen-noodles in her basket.

Ranma nodded his head in understanding, to which Shampoo dropped that matter to peer at Ranma with a concerned expression on her face.

"What happen to boy-Ranma? Did angry-girl be mean to Ranma again?" Shampoo inquired with a small pout.

"Why do you care? I thought you were all fine-and-dandy chasing after Yu-chan now," Ranma said, his tone seemingly coming out harsher than usual on its own accord.

Shampoo blinked, "Both Ranmas Shampoo's friend."

This time it was Ranma's turn to blink. Once upon a time ago he had considered Shampoo a 'friend' along with Akane, and even the crazy sister of Tatewaki, Kodachi, in some strange way. Friends deprived as he was, Ranma would cling onto anyone offering anything even remotely resembling companionship.

This all changed when he met Yu-chan who then took him to meet Yukina-chan. Ranma, for the first time since he could remember the good old days of him and Ukyo hanging out as friends without any marriage stuff popping up, was able to experience what a real friendship was.

It wasn't something one had to force down one's throat with a bunch of love potions, and other nonsense just so one could be one's bride. No. Not. At. All. Ranma shared a mutual trust with Yusuke and Yukina.

Ranma felt like he could let something off of his chest and either one of them would be there to listen to him because they were his friends.

Now that he'd two real friends, Ranma believed he could move on from the crazies Nerima's finest had to offer. So, using his female-charms, he set up Yusuke to fight Shampoo knowing he'd defeat her, thus becoming her new 'fiancée.'

Strangely enough, thanks to Ranma's intervention, Shampoo couldn't officially give Yusuke the kiss of marriage. Why did Ranma do that for? That was what he wanted, to free himself from Shampoo's tenacious efforts to tie him down? He should be jumping for joy, he should!

Ugh.

The pigtailed martial artist released a sigh from his lips, "Look, I'm sorry, it's just I got a lot on my plate now as it is," Ranma said, his face laced with a no-nonsense expression; but at Shampoo's querying look, he decided to elaborate further on the matter, "Long story short, you being here means it's a two-for-one special. Beat a cursed sap; beat another one with half-the-effort."

Shampoo mulled over Ranma's quick witted explanation, with a finger gently placed on her chin, "Hmm," She droned cutely, putting the pieces of the puzzle together. Upon doing so, a look of horror appeared on her face, "The Jusenkyo-people here?"

"Yeah."

"But Shampoo think Yusuke-airen went go deal with bad-people," Shampoo trembled. Hey, those guys kidnapped her and Mousse effortlessly the first time around. They could do it again, "Where Ranma think Yusuke-airen is now."

"Dunno," Ranma said with a shrug. The truth was, he didn't know where his friend was. At first Ranma was thinking Yusuke had rolled home, but that was before Sachiko dropped down. Why else would she be here if Yusuke hadn't made it to Jusenkyo?

But then again why would Sachiko be here if Yusuke had gone to Jusenkyo? Maybe Yusuke arrived at Jusenkyo, but got def-… No. Yusuke was too powerful. That couldn't be it!

Never!

Ranma rattled his head, giving Shampoo a hard glance that got her to flinch. There wasn't many times where Ranma was so serious, "We should get on outta here b-."

"Before I catch up to you, right hun?"

Damn it.

"Ain't this a bitch-," Ranma started with a grouse of frustration, slapping his hand against his forehead, not even needing to turn around to know Sachiko was standing behind him with a hand placed on her hip, "-Sachiko?" Ranma finished, 'Heh, it took her no-time flat to get back on my tail,' Ranma sighed, 'So much for the easy road.'

"What's this, another lawbreaker?" Sachiko locked eyes with Shampoo with a feigned look of surprise on her face, "Oh, how fortunate for moi."

Shampoo's eyes narrowed, looking remarkably like a cat's slits, "Who you? Shampoo no break law."

"Aw, how cute," Sachiko cooed in a condescending fashion, "It would seem you haven't quite clasped our language, hun; though I suppose that's to be expected. Surely you can agree with my rationalization, hmm Xian Pu, alias Shampoo."

Shampoo's eye grew wide, "You know Shampoo real name, Amazonian-lineage too?" She looked at Ranma whom hadn't taken his eyes off of Sachiko, "You must be one who hurt Shampoo friend, come from Jusenkyo-place. Shampoo won't let you take her. No."

"Shampoo," Ranma said, his ferocious glaring look never leaving the eyes of Sachiko, as Shampoo would vouch for, "Lea-." His scowled deepened, a hint of desperation crept into his eyes, with Sachiko no longer in front of him and Shampoo, but above them, descending on them leading with her heel.

Shampoo gasped, "How rich-girl get there?" She could feel her bicycle levitating shakily, forcing her to hold onto the customer's ramen.

Ranma bent his back, chucking Shampoo's bicycle with the girl herself on it away from Sachiko, subsequently doing multiple back-flips to get out of the way of Sachiko's ground-destroying heel-kick. So he expected.

After Ranma had completed seven speedy back-flips, masterfully catching Shampoo's bicycle before it could complete its fall, he noted Sachiko had landed on the road on her tip-toes, as soft as a feather, "Hm. Guess Miss Rich-lady can't splurge the loot on repairs," Ranma noted with a shake of his head, putting an awed Shampoo down. "Either-way that or she's just cheap. Heh. Here's thinkin' I should start calling her Mrs Krabs."

"I'm not even going to dignify that with a response."

"Seems to me you just did, Mrs Krabs," Ranma said with a cheeky smirk, earning himself a small glare from Sachiko for his troubles, "But I'll leave that case as it is."

'Ranma really good, save Shampoo, himself too, really quickly,' Shampoo mused in awe before putting on a determined mask, 'Right. Shampoo not let friend die, she help him beat mean-lady.' But first thing came first.

Ranma's intrigue got him to turn his head at the sound of Shampoo dropping her bicycle, "Sup, 'Shamps? I didn't damage your bike did I?" Ranma asked, noticing Shampoo holding the wrapped-up, concealed ramen-noodles in her arms, before giving him a beaming smile.

"Shampoo help Ranma fight mean-lady, right after she deliver customer meal. Can't be late again like she was after Yusuke-airen eat other customer meal," Shampoo said to a gobsmacked Ranma, waving her hand at him, "Chow."

"Shampoo! Don't hurl your butt ba-." Ranma tried to say to the retreating form of Shampoo, who took to the rooftops at frightening speeds.

"Oh, don't think for a minute I'll let you go, hun," Sachiko said, becoming a red blur, as she hurtled forward before kicking a bicycle to smithereens, "Oh, nice try, hun." An amused smirk came to her face seeing Ranma standing before her with his arms held out, "Oh, please. We both know that isn't going to cut it hu-."

"Avitus!"

"Avi-. Wha-?"

An golden explosion of immense dense Ki was emitted forcibly from Ranma's body, knocking Sachiko back.

XxX

(With Shampoo)

Shampoo halted in her progress on a particular tall building at the sound of an explosion, though the widening of her eyes indicated she knew exactly what it was.

"How boy-Ranma get so strong?" Shampoo asked herself, spinning around. She ended up gasping at the sight of a solidified summit of golden light shooting up into the heavens, completely roofing the sky apart. This power, it was near to the one her airen had showed her earlier when he singlehandedly defeated her and Mousse.

Even if the full amount of power Yusuke had comprehensively toppled all of Ranma's, just the fact that Ranma's true power could even come close to equalling a minuscule bulk of Yusuke's was quite the accomplishment.

"Did Shampoo make mistake switching airens?" Shampoo mentally scolded herself. She was an amazon-warrior, with pride. She made her decision and she would stick by it no matter what. Great grandmother warned Shampoo not to trick Yusuke into loving her like she tried to do with Ranma and failed.

That in of itself warranted curiosity. If great grandmother was wary of Yusuke's power and had admitted that his power massively dwarfed hers then Yusuke deserved her attention. She would try and get to know him.

"Shampoo show Yusuke-airen she number one," Shampoo said resolutely, preparing to turn around to continue on her delivery run. She hesitated once again; the light morphing into a weird blob shape got her to tilt her head to the side. She watched it grow a pair of legs, four in all, with lines across its body, with the only indication that stripes were appearing around its body was the lines were a darker shade of gold then the majority of the creature's body.

"**Grrrrr!"**

It gave off a screeching roar, bearing its canines before jumping away from Ranma as free as a bird.

"Whoa."

Shampoo could only drone lifelessly.

XxX

(Elsewhere – Ucchan's – Ukyo's bedroom)

Ukyo slowly rose from her bed, rubbing her bleary eyes, "Huh," She said with a mumble, gazing out of the window to see a ridiculously bright shockingly yellowish blob in the distance, "That's Ranma-honey's perfume-. I mean power," Ukyo let out an insouciant yawned, lying back down as if this was just business as usual.

It soon clicked in her head that it wasn't just a typical ongoing and unchanging thing, at least not anymore it wasn't.

"Ranchan's back!" Ukyo shot up from her bed like a bolt of lightning.

Ukyo regarded the massive golden creature clearly brought about by Ranchan's power with a warm smile. Though she had to chuckle, even if it contained no humour. She actually foolishly claimed Ryoga's power was near Ranma's.

Ukyo made a mental note to never again be so ignorant and rash again.

"Whoa. I gotta say Ranchan's really improved. You go, Ranchan!" Ukyo said, hopping to her feet. She needed to go meet her long-time friend, recently made fiancée. With Akane now happily dating Ryoga, there was no stopping her from getting Ranma to herself.

"Ah. I can almost imagine the wonderful happy-filled life I'll have with Ranchan once we get married."

A girl can dream; until that dream becomes reality.

XxX

(Sachiko vs. Ranma)

XxX

'Such a huge increase in power,' Sachiko mused, covering her face with her arm.

The woman had to let out a small dry laugh at the savage creature which emerged from Ranma, "Figures the very animal which would represent this barbaric brute would be a tiger."

The golden tiger of Ranma gracefully floated up, and away from the town, gliding on the very air itself as if it were a figure-skater, which only seemed to annoy the classy lady, who just had to wonder how an uneducated brute could have such skill and elegance.

That didn't make any sense to her at all.

Her annoyance morphed into a look of sheer surprise once the materialized golden Ki-tiger reached the mountain-sides on the outskirts of Nerima. Her suspension of debrief was taken and shattered into a million little pieces at the sight of the resulting explosion, subsiding shortly afterwards, but taking a mountain with it.

'His power just reached A-class levels, but how?' Sachiko rattled her brain for answers, turning her head to look at the pigtailed martial artist to see he had one hand hip propped on his hip, and a cocky smirk on his lips.

"I'm ready for ya, Sachiko." Sachiko glared at the insolent mountain-eradicating-martial artist, though her scowling expression didn't hold up for long since Ranma had more or less given her confirmation that he would fight her, really go at her, and not just dodge and evade.

"Oh," Sachiko said, "So you finally grew a backbone huh?"

"It was always there," Ranma countered evenly, "I just needed a time-out to drill it into my thick skull that yer a martial artist, just like everybody else I fought, not just a woman."

"Hmm, so you're basically saying you saw me as a frail weak little school girl," Sachiko said, finding the boy's former perspective so foolhardy it wasn't even worth talking about. It was lower than the dirt underneath her feet, "Is that about right hun?"

"Yeah. Sorry," Ranma mumbled with a shrug, but a frown crossed his face afterwards, "Ten years of being beaten over the head and forced crap down yer throat from yer honourless pops will do that to ya."

"Oh he sounds like quite the shameless man."

"You're tellin' me."

Sachiko exchanged a nod with Ranma, silently sympathizing with the cursed martial artist.

With that out of the way, Ranma set himself in a basic kata, leaning his body backwards, but extending his right leg forward, positioning his left leg behind it and bending it at the knee as if he was stretching.

Ranma's hands were cupped at his sides, as if he was about to do a Kamehameha.

"Before we begin, hun, I would very much appreciate a little insight. Can you give me that hun?"

Ranma relaxed his posture, but only barely.

"Sure. I don't see why not? Whaddya need to hear?"

"Your power, hun. How did it jump from B-class to A-class just from you uttering one word? Avitus, I believe it was."

"Aw, is that all that's poking at your intrigue-buttons?"

"Yes, hun," Sachiko felt a tad annoyed with the way pigtailed martial artist clarified her question, like she was a simpleton for not knowing. She had to sigh, "I would rather you tell me how your power jumped from B to A-class sometime before this night ends. Some of us have lives you know."

"Okey-dokey," Ranma seemed to accept the conditions of Sachiko's inquiry with his rather childish rhyme; however he did not continue speaking, choosing to instead hold his stance and turn his attention subtly to the direction of the night sky as if he was expecting someone to drop out of there. As time clicked on, Sachiko began to contemplate was the rude-boy just doing this to mess with her head.

"Well?"

"Well, what?"

Check.

"Ugh. I was wondering how you managed to raise your power-level near mine when it wasn't beforehand," Ranma made a noise of realization as if he had completely forgotten about that, "Seriously, I do feel you should stay in school, but enough of that. I would implore you to answer my question so we can resume our fight, or start it I should say in this instance."

"Yeah, well I just-."

Sachiko took a stupendous shot to the face, turning her head to the side. She could feel her cheek curve in, with bits of saliva and blood forcibly firing from her mouth like an out-of-control squirt gun. She could not help it; it was out of her hands, including the disastrous joyride she was given via a spinning-clad foot, carrying her all the way to the edge of the shopping district.

"-Snow-shoed yer butt to the curb," Ranma ended with a chirp, a Yusuke-esque troll mask on his face. Seriously, he had been rolling with Yu-chan for too long, 'Must be the Yu-chan rubbing off on me,' A odd look was now on his features, 'I feel like I should rephrase that,' He shook his head, "Aw, to hell with it; time to get shit done!"

He'd a fight to finish after all.

* * *

><p><strong>Ranma's at full power, and is looking like he's gonna go ham on Sachiko's princess behind, but can he endure Sachiko's powerful hits in return? That's the question of the day here folks. Stay tune because that's on its way in roughly a few hours. <strong>

**Also, I put up a DBZ/YuYu Hakusho crossover titled 'From Hero to Zero.' You may check it out if you feel like it. **


	13. Close But No Cigar

**Disclaimer: I don't own YuYu Hakusho or Ranma **

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 13<strong>

**Close But No Cigar **

Being alone at certain times blows.

Having nothing to do either other then travel back to whence one came from via any necessary means was also a negative point.

It meant no matter how one sliced it one would be left alone with nothing but one's thoughts to keep one busy, whether that person wanted to mull over his thoughts or not.

Yusuke Urameshi was not particularly a fan of having to meditate while he dashed through the clouds, shrouded from head to toe in his shiny, overwhelmingly powerful blue aura. Not in this instance, not ever. His childhood sweetheart and number one best friend, Keiko, would dryly supply that Yusuke didn't reflect in any occurrence, and that his head was about as empty as an abandoned warehouse.

The old saying, "There's a first time for everything," couldn't have been more true than right this moment.

'I iced dudes and gals tonight.'

He couldn't help but reflect on his decision to bring Hiei with him and put down the Jusenkyo Preservation Society and all it's members like lambs to the slaughter house.

It wasn't like they were bad guys like Suzaku, heck on the contrary most were just your average everyday men and women trying to make a living for themselves; Kazumu and Gurubi were the most noticeable ones in this occurrence.

If they were just your generic, bland, typical robotic-like adversaries, ones without a hint of human-emotion or compassion hindering their merciless judgements, then Yusuke would've gladly buried them six-feet underneath the ground, and happily jogged on in his merry way.

But, such was not the case.

The way Sachiko lost her composure and charged him down in vengeance for the fact that he had been her friend's ruthless, merciless guide to the great beyond, complete with the look Shades sent him upon finding out his friend was no longer among the living shot at his conscious. It was like they were calling him a monster, even if they didn't outright say such.

They didn't have to.

Actions spoke louder than words.

Yusuke had a sickly feeling in the pit of his gut. His hand grasped his stomach around his belly-button area, and his mind wondered how he could ever face Ranma knowing of the fiendish acts he had committed. His other lady friend, Keiko, would understand; most definitely. They had been through a lot together after all.

But Ranma… she was different.

She hadn't.

"Red, maybe pissed with me for not taking her along for the ride but I think in the long run she'll realize I made the right call," Yusuke said to himself, but it was all wishful thinking, and he knew that, "Heh. A guy can hope," He released a laugh from his throat which contained no humour, the contents of his lunch finally deciding to leave his stomach.

"Ack," Yusuke threw up, expressionlessly watching the vomit fall through the clouds on its way to the sea below, "It feels like my stomach just got shook upside down. Damn." Maybe that was the big-guy's way of telling him he couldn't just go around slaying people whenever he pleased, even if the sinful deed was ultimately for the side of 'good'.

"Karma's a motherfucker."

He let out another dry chuckle at how unconvinced he sounded. It was Ironic how a part of him relished in the deposing of the Jusenkyo Preservation Society, just the way he murdered that woman who had insulted his mother, and how he was visibly disappointed in the fact the old geezer had just dropped dead before he could be tortured by Yusuke for sending hired assassins out to harm his friend.

That could've been Yusuke's demonic side yearning to be freed so it could laid waste to everyone around it.

Or maybe Yusuke was just born to be an ice-cold killer...

...But right now he just wasn't ready for it.

Whatever the case Yusuke had a feeling he wouldn't be getting any sleep, anytime soon.

Yusuke's grief was momentarily swept underneath the carpet by a surge of (an) intense reiki coming from his neighbourhood, "That's Red," He had a slight look of surprise on his face, "That's a lot more juice than last time. She's about mid A-class level now. She musta took off her shackles," He rationalized, getting a feel for whoever was taking on Ranma.

A deadly, dark serious expression appeared on Yusuke's face.

"So, princess went to Nerima, eh. She must be 'till lamenting her friend's death. They say revenge is a dish served best cold. I'll have to check this one out."

XxX

(Ranma vs Sachiko)

XxX

"Ah," Sachiko grunted, which sounded like a moan in her alluring tone.

She had a scar on her left cheek, complete with a busted open lip, "That was quite the clever ploy," She had to admit, sitting up against the damaged wall Ranma had roundhouse-kicked her into, looking at the trail of mushed-up ground created in the wake of her bombing down it at a furious pace.

Ranma coolly sauntered down the convenient pathway to Sachiko, stopping a few feet before her with a cheeky smirk engraved on his face.

"Aye, aye captain," He gave her a mock salute, though switched the position of his hand to his cheek with a look of feigned concern, "Yeah, ya sorta got a little sumthin' there."

"Yes, I'm well aware of that dear," Sachiko glared at the rude-boy, whom just shrugged with a cheerful grin, "Though I do commend you on your superb acting skills, dear, nevertheless, it was still rather unsportsmanlike of you to play possum as you did."

"Get bent!" Quoted the brash pigtailed martial artist blowing Sachiko a raspberry, "That's the standard principle of the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts, use yer opponents' weaknesses against 'em, so deal with it lady!" He finished by immaturely sticking his tongue out at Sachiko.

"Charmed," Sachiko said coolly, not at all impressed with Ranma's behaviour or the policy of his school, "Well at least you're ready to fight like a warrior, and not just die like a coward, so that's something if nothing else." This time when Sachiko blurred forward, she never once left the eyesight of Ranma, whom confidence was threatening to raise to Super Saiyan three levels.

It was as if time had slowed down from Sachiko's point-of-view, seeing her opponent blaze inches from her face as if he had just miraculously gained Matrix-like powers.

"I can see ya," Ranma whispered in a teasing tone of voice, not even giving Sachiko the chance to scowl, since he ducked immediately, setting himself on his back and spinning around like a beyblade spinning top in the time-span of a mere second.

Sachiko found herself leaving the ground, being juggled in the air by a continuous barrage of forceful impacts of the foot from the dashing rotation underneath her. For a while she could do nothing other than withstand the pain. With every punt which implanted into her back increased in intensity, bouncing Sachiko higher into the air until she was a good ways from being booted again.

She took the chance her tormentor had unintentionally presented her by twisting herself in mid-air to gain control of her own momentum, "It's almost too hard to believe he was hiding all that speed and power the whole time," She adjusted herself in a position to blast a soccer ball into the next century, "Oh well, it just means I'll have more tedious work to do to get through this to emerge victorious."

She was left disappointed at the sight of Ranma flipping up skilfully to do a few back-flips, "Aw, and here I had expected another clash of limps," She sighed, "Oh well, I suppose that was predictable. Trailer-trash people are often frail creatures."

Once Sachiko's two feet touched the ground, she wasted no time darting straight for Ranma, lifting up her leg to power a cannon-like shot directed at his stomach, completely leaving herself wide open the instance Ranma neatly spun on his heels, out of range of her kick and to her side.

Taking quick advantage of the opening presented to him, Ranma stomped his foot on Sachiko's calf, followed by gluing his other one to Sachiko's thigh before bending his knees as leverage to catapult himself into the air. Doing a quick three hundred and sixty spin, Ranma smashed the heel of his right foot on the back of Sachiko's head, knocking her head down.

Grimacing slightly, Sachiko blasted out her leg to where Ranma would land as if she were playing a game of space invaders, but Ranma was just too slick and instinctual for her. Said young man landed in a half splits-of-sorts, avoiding Sachiko's low kick which tore another long trail in the ground via the sheer shockwave it created.

Not letting that hinder her confidence, Sachiko reeled her leg back in, quickly bringing up it to near face-level to unleash a barrage of quick snappy kicks, though due to Ranma's dancing feet she had to aim her snap-hits of her foot down the middle, to the left, and even the right, all to hit nothing but afterimages of the cursed delinquent.

'H-He's a rather… slippery, graceful individual. He must have stolen a ballerina tape from a more successful fellow. Trailer-trash can't get this level of elegance on their own after all,' Sachiko mused with a grit of her teeth, a small pout on her face from watching her shots blur through the multiple Ranmas.

"Whoosh! I'm invincible!" Ranma exclaimed in a mocking tone, slowly fading out of existence as if he was never there.

Glaring, Sachiko found her target standing behind her, and sought to attack him with a roundhouse-kick.

"Whoosh! Invincible!"

Sachiko lashed out at her right side with a side-kick.

"Yikes, ya fell on yer face again. Ya fail more than Bart Simpson does on tests."

"And you run your mouth just as much as that other barbaric brute hun!" Sachiko retorted with a heated glare aimed in Ranma's direction on her right.

This gave Ranma paused, "Hm?" Ranma crossed his arms, "What are you yapping on about?"

"Oh? So he never told you, did he?" Sachiko found it slightly amusing that the black haired young man would leave without informing his precious Ranma where he was going, "Surprising if I do say so myself, since he made it evident he was there to protect you, a lawbreaker, from receiving the righteous punishment you deserve, hun."

For Ranma, that was all the confirmation he needed, "So Yu-chan did hop on the boat to ass-kicking-vile without me." He looked dejected at the realization, the previous words of his friend echoing loudly and harshly in his head, 'Yu-chan, you damn bastard. Am I really just baggage to you?'

"Oh honey, there, there. There's no need to feel sad. You just wasn't woman enough for him," Sachiko taunted, eliciting a flinch out of Ranma.

Ranma sent Sachiko a nasty, hate-filled glare, "You best not be implying what I think you are lady!"

Sachiko blinked her eyelashes in mock innocence, "Oh? Whatever do you mean, hun? I was merely stating your precious 'Yu-chan' clearly has tastes. Be it this form I see you in now, or your other slightly above average graceful form, you obviously wasn't ready for a real man."

She didn't need a second invitation to raise her leg, bent at the knee, to block the mighty, immense double-drop kick thrown her way by the enraged, furious pigtailed martial artist; the force of the attack rupturing the ground.

"Shut your mouth!" Ranma winced commandingly, putting some distance between him and Sachiko, 'What the heck is she made out of, friggin' steel?!' It's insane!

"Oh dearie me, did I hit a nerve, hun?" Sachiko asked, a hand elegantly covering the lower half of her face, "I didn't know you cared so much for the same sex," She shrugged, "That's all well and good, though. Honestly, I salute such a stance. The world needs more people like you brave enough to step out of the closet."

Ranma had to fight hard to keep the red tinge of embarrassment from spreading across his face at the implications of that, "Can it!" He demanded, "'Sides, you already brought it to the table yourself, that he headed to Jusenkyo to wipe your screwy company off of the map, not shop for a date as if he had walked straight into Dating-R-Us!"

Sachiko giggled at the sad fact of Ranma avoiding the very plausible likelihood that he could have a crush on his male companion by hiding behind his smart-mouth, "Well, hun, I see you're denying the likely scenario where 'Yu-chan' could wind up losing to us, no? Wouldn't you agree to the feasibility of such a case happening?"

Ranma waved his hand, blowing Sachiko a raspberry, "Hell-fucking-No! If you can barely put me down for the count then you have zero chance in hell of beating Yu-chan," Ranma folded his arms over his chest in disdain of the idea of Yusuke losing to anyone, "That's about as likely as a mutt catching up to the turnip truck." The smart-mouthed martial artist thought that line over, "On second thought, scratch that! I'd put my money on the mutt outpacing the turnip truck before Yu-chan loses to any of you Jusenkyo-creeps."

Sachiko sighed with a frown as she reluctantly conceded in this matter.

The cursed martial artist had indomitable confidence in his protector.

"A last I fear I do have to agree with your metaphor, hun. Yu's power is frankly off of the charts."

"Heh. What else did'ya expect girly? If Yu-chan can cream both our asses, more notably mine than yours, with his hands tied behind his back of course him cleaning out your whacked-up organization is gonna be a breeze for him!" Ranma boasted, though added for Sachiko's own benefit, "That was Yusuke Urameshi who came at cha!"

"Yes, his power is quite breath-taking-."

"Hmm-mmm-!" Ranma had a big victory grin on his face.

"-Which explains why he didn't need a liability such as yourself, dear, slowing him down."

…Only to get his grin wiped clean off of his face.

"_Cause' you're a liability_."

Remembering those words shovelled into Ranma faster than any shovel could.

There was only one thing left to do to defend himself from the dejection quickly looking to engulf him in all its emo-glory, attack. Attack like a vengeful rapid dog on a mission.

"Oh dear," Sachiko said in faked concern, having ducked underneath a rotating kick from the pigtailed martial artist, "I seem to have struck another nerve."

"You talk too much," Ranma glared crossly at the woman standing before him, "What's the matter, _Sachi_? Can't get any shut-eye? Well don't you're panties in a bunch 'cause I'm gonna put your lights out, free-of-charge." Ranma held out his arms with a grin on his face, "No need to thank me, I'm just _that_ damn good."

"You're going to have to face your fears sooner or later, hun," Sachiko said, but Ranma's retaliation to that was to force Sachiko to lift up her knee to block the comprehensive blow of Ranma's fist hitting her stomach, causing him to wince.

"Oh? I would be careful if I were you dear," Sachiko explained carelessly, while Ranma held his throbbing fist, "It can be very problematic hitting these beauties."

"Yer tellin' me," Ranma said, "It's a doozy, alright."

Sachiko snapped the bottom half of her leg upwards like a whip, forcing Ranma to leap to the side in swift evasion.

He skilfully suspended himself in mid-air, twisting himself in multiple three hundred and sixty spins, before lashing out at Sachiko with a sideways kick aimed at the jaw.

This time it was her turn to evade and that she did by gliding nimbly to the side, blasting her right foot as if she was booting a soccer ball at the falling Ranma.

Only by some divine miracle did Ranma dodge that shot the instance he fell in a crouch by instantaneously rolling to the side, putting the dodging ball in her court with an old-school basic sweeping leg-attack.

Though it was rebounded back in Ranma's court with Sachiko's honing in on him with an innovated arrow-like manoeuvre, forcibly making Ranma get inventive himself by sliding up his backside and hefting his legs into the air so he could crazily perform a dancing-esque twister.

The clashing feet of the two A-class titans created mini powerful earthquakes, said devastations of nature rupturing the ground, pulling massive pieces of rock from the ground.

'I'm still baffled by the level of elegance this trailer-trash is showing. If I didn't know any better I would say he's far more agile than that man, Yusuke Urameshi as he so kindly supplied,' Sachiko observed, continuously stomping her feet on the upside Ranma's, but getting them parried in return, 'However, I wonder how long he'll be able to hold up against my well-trained legs,' Sachiko smirked.

Ranma had a pained expression on his face.

Going toe to toe with Sachiko in a battle of feet was like kicking steel made out of plutonium with an indestructibility level of a million! It was off the chain!

Taking his chance to free himself of this endless struggle, Ranma speedily rolled backwards, getting scraped across the back by Sachiko's heel.

He freaked out as he grabbed his pigtail, "Damn, damn, damn!" He let out a sigh of relief seeing it was still intact, "That was too close for comfort."

"Well that didn't last long," Sachiko said, storing the way Ranma fretted over his hair like it was his last life line for later, and instead fell to the ground, "Though I can't blame you, such a frail little thing." Ranma glared intensely at Sachiko, "Oh! If only looks could kill?"

Sachiko swiped the air with her foot in a spinning manner, whiskers away from hitting the backward-flipping martial artist. One missed attempt never stopped her before and it didn't now, as she drove in on Ranma, attempting to sweep his feet right from underneath him.

Yet one stylish jumping turn in mid-flight to carry him out of range from the tae-kwon-do expert's attack made evasion Ranma's game and agility his name.

Landing on his feet, Ranma was instantly off of them again in a quick-fire counterattack.

He scowled, watching Sachiko hop out of range to avoid his dropkick.

Ranma's scowl only deepened taking in their surroundings, "I'm feeling a little crowded here."

"I concur."

"Whaddya say we take this to a more open school yard?"

"And what do you have in mind?"

Ranma crossed his arms, droning in thought until he looked up at the sky, a smirk playing on his lips, "How 'bout there? Does that sound right up your alley, Sachi?"

Sachiko looked up, an amused grin crossing her features, "Oh? You are playing with fire aren't you, hun? I like that."

"What can I say, daredevil's my middle name."

"Excellent! I, myself, find putting my very own life at risk to be such a wondrous activity. There's no adrenaline-rush like knowing your very life could end right this moment to get the blood pumping." She actually found living every moment like it was your last to be enjoyment? That was some Kuno-level of madness!

"So, shall we begin?"

"Last one there is a rotten egg!"

A gleeful Ranma blasted off toward the town's square at a furious pace.

"So childish," Sachiko frowned, shaking her head before following suite, catching up to male-Ranma with little effort on her part; although, from Sachiko's observation, Ranma's legs were most likely feeling the effects of hitting Sachiko's.

Despite that - the two clashed in a flurry of hits, all the while racing side by side. To the casual observer, and even to B-class warriors such as Kuno, it appeared as if two light-blobs, gold and pinkish-red, were colliding into each other as if they were bumper cars, leaving two long threads of their own respective colours trailing in their wakes.

It felt like forever to the two warriors in the driving seats of the blinding shining lights, but in retrospective it was only a second before they reached the heart of the city, separating from each other to dash up two tall buildings via pure leg strength alone.

Upon reaching the top, Ranma and Sachiko catapulted themselves from their respective makeshift trampolines, soaring skyward like a pair of birds.

"Aaaaaahhhhh!" Ranma roared out an energetic battle-cry as if he were some green suited, bowl-haired cut kid from a quote-on-quote ninja series, "Fly like an eagle!" Sticking his right arm and leg out, Ranma did the opposite to his other limbs and tucked them inwards as he flew upwards to meet Sachiko.

"Yes, honey, of course you are," Sachiko said, as if she was dealing with a little child in a nursery.

Ranma poured as much confident Ki as he could into his leg in a bid to level the playing field, knowing Sachiko's strength superseded his, "Here goes nothing!" Ranma set a challenging gaze on his face as he neared Sachiko.

Two legs collided in the clouded, starry midnight sky.

The clouds parted.

The shockwave was immense, so potent the two feared if they had smashed each other with all they had in the centre of the high street a massive chunk of the city would've been reduced to rubble.

'She doesn't seem like a bad guy,' Ranma noted the bitter frustration on Sachiko's features at being too strong to fight anywhere she wants, 'Dunno if that's a good thing or bad, though.' He decided to go with the former since he needed to concentrate on the task at hand.

…Namely trying to get the upper hand on Sachiko.

More solid air pressures were released from the blows of Ranma and Sachiko, which were so condensed they looked more like two half crescent-shaped energy beams coming so close together without touching they could've been passed off as one circle.

The shockwaves were so wide and massive they shaved a few bits of stones off of a few buildings in Nerima and were dangerously close to glazing the mountain-sides.

'Argh! Can't take much more of this,' Ranma thought with a strained expression on his face, struggling to endure the unbelievable throbbing pain in his legs.

Switching his tactics from blow to blow, to evading, Ranma twisted his body in mid-air, often just barely avoiding the sharp forceful thrusts of Sachiko's foot while gravity continued to work its magic on the airborne martial artist and Kung Fu specialist. It was getting harder and harder to dodge while in mid-air, especially given the fact Sachiko had got the upper hand and was in the driving seat.

Eventually, Ranma had to improvise. He caught a particularly powerful kick in a thunder clap, but before he could mentally pat himself on the back for his quick thinking Sachiko smirked and drove her free knee into Ranma's throat, getting him to sputter chokingly.

"Ah, what a shame, as I do feel sad when such a delightful game comes to an end, unfortunate it may be. I suppose someone had to emerge victorious, right hun?" Sachiko said in a condescending fashion, increasing the speed of their descent.

But all Ranma could think of was, 'Why ain't she using her hands!?' – as he plummeted to the ground and supposedly, to his defeat. He could feel it in the pit of his gut, but everyone knew who he was! He was Ranma Saotome for crisis' sake! He didn't just throw in the towel, hell no! So what did he do, he fought! He fought back like his life depended on it, grasping Sachiko's knee with his two hands and desperately trying to throw it off of his neck.

But Ranma was sore and bruised from the duration of the fight.

Furthermore - just to add fuel to the fire - Sachiko was so strong and had such powerful legs.

Ranma's vision was starting to fade just after his complexion had begun to turn purple as if he was becoming a bruised watermelon. Little by little Sachiko's smug grin became more and more jaded with blackness, as a pair of ocean blue eyes drowsily began to close against the will of the adamant pigtailed martial artist.

'No,' Ranma lamented his inevitable upcoming loss at the hands, or legs, of the classy lady.

'_You're so pathetic… Ranma-chan_.'

Ranma's eyes widened at the all too similar distinctive cocky, wry voice.

'_You_?' He had apparently heard something funny, because he chuckled, '_Stand by my side? C'mon, be real, gal. Ya got skills, I ain't gonna deny that and if I'm playing by the fair play rule, I would say you far surpass me in that category. But even 'till, I'm too good for you_.'

Bastard! How'd that make any sense?

'_I'm on a next level. But don't feel bad, babe. Not everyone can test to my level. I'm like a damn measuring pole for badassery, so don't be down in the dumps for not reaching my level. You can always get back in the kitchen and make me a sandwich. That's what housewives are for, you know_?'

'Bastard!' Ranma thought in exasperation, a fire of determination being lit up in his eyes, as his golden aura flared back into life, 'Yer can take your own butt into the kitchen and make yourself grub, pal! And while you're at it make me some too!' Ranma retorted to the semblance of Yusuke mocking him in his mind, a dry expression appearing on his features, 'Since you're the pro at cooking and all.'

"What the-?" Sachiko sputtered, struggling to keep her implanted knee on the reinvigorated Ranma's neck. 'H-He was out. Well, almost out. I could see it clearly. It should be near impossible for him to have all this power left in him,' Sachiko powered up her own pinkish-red aura, determined to keep her advantage intact, 'I won't let this turn out like one of those cliché novels where the hero, or rebel in this case I should say, makes a contrived comeback and wins."

"I won't lose to you, Sachi!"

"Ranchan!"

"Aiyaa, Boy-Ranma!"

Lady luck was either frowning or smiling at Ranma depending on which side he wanted to look at the spectrum when a combination of a silver metal spatula and a bonbori whammed Sachiko directly into her face, discontinuing the battle for dominance between the two, as it knocked her off of Ranma who used that chance to suck in the much needed air he missed.

As gravity's job was almost complete bringing the two to earth Ranma knew for sure some divine deity had it in for him when he crashed into a fairly huge bucket, wetting him up, and resulting in a splash.

Ukyo and Shampoo plucked their chosen weapons out of the air in a blur of speed.

"Aw, man! Friggin' karma's being a real jackass now," Ranma whined, sitting up on the destroyed bucket, her soaking wet clothes sticking to her curvaceous body, "Or maybe the big cheese upstairs wanted a free V.I.P peek show, the friggin' perv."

"Ranchan!" Ukyo dashed to Ranma, placing a hand on the red haired girl's shoulder with a concerned expression on her face, "Are you okay?"

"Ucchan?" Ranma wondered puzzlingly, standing up to her feet with her best friend supporting her, "Whatcha doing up at this time?"

"I sensed that mass release of power you released sugar," Ukyo explained dryly, making Ranma blush in embarrassment.

For once she had underestimated her own power. Usually Ranma would've been like, "Well, _duh. _Whaddya expect, Ucchan? It's me, not some damn canon-fodder! Even a squirt of my Ki can act as a damn drill alarm for the entire swat force!"

For once Ranma did not brag about her power and didn't feel the need to flaunt it like she usually would've done before one Yusuke gave her back her strength from Happosai.

Ranma tried to deny the fact that Yusuke was far, far, far stronger than her by telling herself if she had her strength she could cream both their asses, his and Happosai's, easy, but that comfort blanket was burned to ashes when Yusuke effortlessly toyed with her after unlocking her strength.

This reunion with her best friend Ucchan had already set the stage for what Ranma would do if people gawk at the initial release of her Ki: casually dismiss their praises, their amazements, and downplay their own statements of her power.

If Ranma's power wasn't close to Yusuke's then it wasn't worth getting excited about. Yusuke was like a measuring pole. When Ranma closed the massive gap between the two then maybe she would once again take pride in her strength; but for now, no, a big fat no.

Being around Yu-chan made her think less of her own strength since it seemed small in comparison to his.

"Aw, it was nothin' Ucchan." Ranma insisted with a grin.

Ukyo blinked at her friend's side, closing surveying the grin on the redhead's face. Ukyo had expected Ranma to arrogantly let her exclamation of her power waking her up go to her head, not blow it off as if everyone could do it.

'Ranchan…' Ukyo reflected, staring at Ranma as if seeing the redhead for the first time, 'You seem so… humble,' A warm smile crossed Ukyo's face, 'I guess that vacation you took away from here did more good than expected,' Ranma was no longer excessively arrogant so that was a plus.

"So is what Shamps said true?" Ukyo asked.

"You calling her that too?" Ranma mumbled in return.

Ukyo nodded, "It's insulting to call that girl after a hair product."

Shampoo huffed, holding her guarding position in front of the girls, "Shampoo's airen don't think name stupid, stupid spatula-girl."

Ukyo rolled her eyes, deadpanning a look at the warrior named after a substance to wash people's hairs, "Uh-Uh. That'll be Yusuke as you said on the way, right?"

The way Ukyo casually mentioned Yusuke piqued Ranma's interest as she blinked, "Wait. Hold up. You know Yu-chan?"

Ukyo shrugged, despite feeling slight disappointment at noting Ranma use the endearing honorific on someone else other than her. Oh well, she was still the cute fiancée, and now, the only fiancée in the running to marry Ranma, unless one counted Kodachi but no one cared about her.

"Akane told me about him when I went to the Tendos last month to see where you were," She looked at Ranma in a cross fashion, "I must say, I was mad and upset with you at first when I discovered you had left town without telling anyone."

Hearing those words leave her best friend's mouth made a sharp look of understanding appear on her face. Ranma hadn't expected anyone to lament her departure from Nerima barring her pops and Mr Tendo just for the simple fact their plans to marry her off to Akane were blown to smithereens.

She definitely felt guilty now.

"Sorry, Ucchan," Ranma mumbled, "Didn't mean to abandon ship so suddenly, I just needed to get away from pops," Ranma grinned bashfully at Ukyo, "Jeez. Here's hoping you ain't mad at me."

Ukyo let out a sigh, "How could I ever stay mad at you, Ranchan?" She made a mental note to kick that damned panda's ass next time she saw him. One: Genma owed her and her father for the Okonomiyaki-cart he stole from them back when Ukyo and Ranma were kids. Though they did agree upon a deal which would see Genma take the Okonomiyaki-cart but he didn't hold up to his end of the bargain.

This brings about point number two: Genma abandoned Ukyo, and took off with the Okonomiyaki-cart and Ranma when he was supposed to take her with him so she could grow up with Ranma before marrying him.

When Ukyo had tracked down Ranma she at first blamed him for taking off without her. Luckily for Ranma she was a reasonable girl and got Ranma's side of the story from Ranma himself. Pops never told him/her he was meant to take Ukyo with them so she could marry him.

Heck Ranma thought Ukyo was a boy back when she/he was a young boy.

Ranma smiled gratefully, "Thanks."

"Anytime sugar."

"Mean lady definitely not down yet. Have keep guard up, work together to take her down," Shampoo said with a serious look laced upon her face.

Ranma narrowed her eyes in the direction of where Shampoo and Ukyo had knocked Sachiko to, "Right. She's one tough customer. You sure you guys will be good to go."

Ukyo gave the girl a smirk, "What's a cute fiancée for, huh?" Ranma had an awkward grin on her face at Ukyo's confidence. With Shampoo and Akane no longer after her hand in marriage, Ukyo must've thought she was a shoo-in to be Ranma's bride.

"Shampoo not dignify that with response," Shampoo huffed disdainfully, "She amazon-warrior."

"Yeah," Ranma said in a tired manner, almost falling on her knees, but for Ukyo who held her up.

"Ranchan!" Ukyo fretted over her best friend, causing Shampoo to twirl her head in her direction with the amount of worry heard in her voice, 'Damn it! I didn't expect Ranchan to be this worn out after a fight,' Ukyo gnashed her teeth at her own observation, 'Just how strong is this girl anyway?'

"Goddamn it! Fighting Sachi took more outta me than I expected," Ranma said, her breathing was visible, "Ain't got much gas in the tank."

'Shit! If she can take this much out of Ranchan what chances do Shamps and I have of taking her down?' Ukyo thought in near desperation. Ukyo knew she was strong but unlike Akane she was down to earth and knew her limits. Ranma was better than her, there was no doubt about it. Ukyo's proof of that fact was Ranma's victory over her when she first showed up in Nerima.

Things only went from bad to worse when a smooth, but cross voice echoed out in the area.

"You do know it's rude to butt in on a fight without permission, right hun?"

Shampoo whirled herself around with her eyes wide along with Ukyo's.

Ranma, however, merely glared intensely at Sachiko, "Sachiko."

Sachiko took in Ranma's quick change of not only appearance but also gender with mirth dancing in her eyes, "Oh, what do we have here, hun? Finally decided to show your womanly charms to Mr Urameshi," Sachiko chuckled, her taunt made all three girls scowl, "Mine, you're quite the tenacious one, aren't you?"

"What the hell are you talking about lady? Ranchan isn't a girl!" The cross-dresser said.

"Yusuke-airen is Shampoo's, not belong to any Ranmas!" The Amazonian-woman stated with a pout.

"A perfect example of close comrades not accepting one for who he, or she in this case, really is," Sachiko retorted coolly, "Such a pity."

"Ranchan," Ukyo murmured beside Ranma, "What is she talking about?"

"I-I-I d-dunno," Ranma stuttered, biting her top lip, before flinching from a determined glare she got from Shampoo, "Hey! Don't gimme that! I said I know, nil, nada, zilch, oh-kay!" Yet Shampoo wasn't convinced, "Whaddya want me to say, Shamps? She was yapping on like she had Yu-chan around her finger, my bud for fuck's sake!"

"Shampoo no let girl-Ranma have Yusuke-airen, no," Shampoo declared with a hardened glance.

"Shamps!" Ukyo scolded her, her arms never leaving Ranma's, "Don't worry, sugar, I believe you. You were probably just scared of losing your friend," Ukyo rationalized with a smile.

"Exactly!" Ranma said excitedly, "Thanks, Ucchan. I knew I could count on you."

"Hey, what are fiancées for, huh?" Ukyo asked slyly, earning herself a nervous laugh from her best friend.

"Hehe. As amusing as it is watching you deny your clear feelings for a man hun, I find my amusement waning thin. So I think I'll be on my way after I kill you and Xian Pu for breaking the law, no hard feelings. It's just business," Sachiko said.

"Shampoo no be defeated so easily!" Shampoo roared, charging towards Sachiko, "She still have to marry Yusuke-airen! She won't die now, not ever, no."

"Shampoo!" Ranma cried out watching the amazon-girl lash out with her colourful bonbori, only to get it blocked by Sachiko's knee.

"How uninspiring, though it's to be expected of trailer-trash such as yourself," Sachiko taunted, getting a scowl from Shampoo, "Now, allow me to show you how a successful folk deals damage to her opp-." Sachiko cut herself off, cold sweat running down her cheek at the feeling of an intense murderous intent bearing heavily on her shoulders, 'W-What is this, f-feeling? I-I feel as if someone's holding me at gunpoint for father's wealth.'

Turning her head from left to right to pinpoint the source of the devilish aura, Sachiko surmised it had to be coming from behind her. She looked over her shoulder, while Shampoo wondered what she was trying to find.

The rich classy lady found the crimson orbs of her best friend's murderer staring at her as if they were trying to pierce through the very fibre of her very soul itself on a tall building.

'T-That man,' Sachiko mused, 'Yusuke Urameshi,' She realized, remembering what male-Ranma had called the young killer, 'It seems I was neither proficient nor quick enough in my judgement in slaying Ranma Saotome.'

A song that was usually reserved for classical opera rang out throughout the air, much to the confusion of Ukyo, Ranma, and Shampoo.

"What that?" Shampoo asked before any of them could track Sachiko's eyes. Instead their eyes were drawn to Sachiko's slithering hand, watching it sink into her blossom and emerge with an expensive-looking cell phone.

"Oto-sama," Sachiko looked oddly fearful at the realization her father was calling her. Sparing the silhouette a glance, Sachiko turned to look at Ranma, "I so hate to leave a play before it ends, but I fear I must. Oto-sama can get very cross if I disobey him. So we'll have to call this one a draw," Sachiko smirked at the redhead, "See you when boyfriend's not around… dear."

She got her desired ruse out of the redhead before the opera music stopped; the phone now being on Sachiko's ear.

"Good evening oto-sa-."

The way Sachiko quickly pulled the phone from her ear let the girls know she had been shouted at.

"But oto-sama I wa-."

She zipped her trap shut and nodded her head in reluctance.

"Understood oto-sama; I'll be home immediately."

Sachiko vanished without a truce.

"Well, that was… interesting." Ukyo said.

"More like anticlimactic," That observation was made by neither Shampoo nor Ranma, but that despite neither lady speaking a sharp look of realization appeared on their faces. They turned their heads upwards in the direction of the calm voice to find a pair of brown eyes staring down at them.

"Yu-chan…" Ranma whispered in debrief.

"Hiya Ranma-chan; did'ya hurt yourself, honey?" Yusuke enquired in a mocking tone of voice.

Ranma could honestly say she felt like running up to Yusuke and flying-kicking him in the face, "Bastard."

Yusuke smirked, dropping down from the building he was on, "Well it turns out you musta had a seven leaf clover tucked somewhere in your back pocket 'cause the mac-daddy himself just happened to be about to save your ass."

"Yusuke-airen!" Shampoo exclaimed cheerily before Ranma could angrily retort. The Amazonian-woman, much to Ranma's annoyance, dashed over to Yusuke in a blur of speed to wrap her arms around his neck, pressing her busty boobs in his chest, "You come save your Shampoo, yes."

"No," Yusuke blurted out honestly.

"Well, sugar, I'm impressed. You actually scored a man for once," Ukyo mockingly complimented Shampoo, ignoring Yusuke's denial to Shampoo's claim regarding his supposed heroics with a smirk on her face. Her smirk only turned cheeky at the sight of Yusuke's glare.

"I guess now that you have your own man, sugar, you can leave mine alone," Ukyo said, affectionately rubbing her cheek against Ranma's, who chuckled in a dry manner.

"Humph. Both Ranmas million years too early for Yusuke-airen," Shampoo said, not letting go of her supposed sweetheart.

"You want to bet sugar?" Ukyo asked with a hardened gaze in her eyes.

"Yeah. He kinda is, Ucchan," Ranma confessed with a sheepish smile.

"But Ranchan-."

"Haha," Yusuke's mocking, arrogant guffaw cut Ukyo off, "You see that? Red knows the drill," He got a couple of cute glares from the redhead and the Okonomiyaki chef for his troubles, "So, you're the famous Ucchan I've heard all about, huh?"

The Okonomiyaki chef kept up her glare on Yusuke, "Yes, that's correct, and I take it you're this 'Yu-chan' my Ranchan told me about."

"Your 'Ranchan' huh?" Yusuke said with a teasing glint to his eye, getting an indignant pout from Ranma and a huff from Ukyo, "I just wonder how you'll feel when I end up marking Ranma as my lady-friend, haha," Yusuke taunted, causing Ukyo to freeze in her tracks, "Better get that lube while ya 'till can girly. If I were ya I would stack up on that shit!"

"Damn you!" Ranma said, angry with Yusuke's ridiculing of Ukyo.

"But Yusuke-airen's Shampoo's," Shampoo stated, nimbly allowing her arms to fall off of Yusuke's neck with a glare, "Not girl-Ranma's, not anyone else's, just Shampoo's."

"One: I'mma doing this to troll her, 'cause I'm me and it's what I do, and two: as I've said before, we ain't an item gal," The demonic troll freely elucidated in his typical blunt manner, but regardless of that Shampoo still smiled at him.

"Oh. That okay, then. Shampoo thought Yusuke-airen was going for girl-Ranma."

"Did'ya even hear a word I said?" Yusuke asked crossly.

"I think I hate this jackass already," Ukyo mumbled to Ranma in an angry tone of voice.

"Meh. You'll get used to him. He sorta grows on ya after a while," Ranma shrugged.

Ukyo shot Ranma a deadpan stare, "Oh really, sugar? I wasn't aware of that." How could anyone get used to that trolling jackass?

Ranma barked out a good-natured laugh, "Never said he was Mr Perfect, but he has his good points."

"How do you deal with his bad points?" Ukyo grumbled enquiringly, her question causing a sour expression to appear on Ranma's face.

"Ain't that the million yen question of the day," Ranma muttered, rolling up her sleeves, "You'll just have to wing it and pray fate doesn't screw you over," Ranma purged herself from Ukyo, and marched over to Yusuke with a fierce glare, "Hey, you! I wanna word with ya right now!"

"What is it, honey?" Yusuke asked in a bland tone as a way to further mess with Ranma. As he turned to face the furious redhead, he got grabbed by the collar of his shirt.

"Don't honey me, mister! You know what! Who do you think you are leaving me outta the action?" The feisty redhead ranted, "Huh? Whaddya got from yer butt to pull yourself outta this one mister?!" Instead of answering the furious redhead girl, Yusuke only smirked at her in a taunting fashion, "Stop looking at me like that ya damn bast-."

Ranma was cut off from the caressing of her cheek with the sound of skin meeting skin echoing throughout the air, Ukyo and Shampoo gaping at what Yusuke did to Ranma before both narrowed their eyes dangerously.

"Aaaaah!" Ranma freaked out, hopping away from Yusuke while Shampoo glared at her, "Whatcha do that for?"

Yusuke smacked his lips, running his tongue over them, "I had to; you were hanging onto me like a rapid dog," Yusuke explained nonchalantly.

"Well you coulda gone about it another way, or ya' know, done the simple thing 'n just asked me to leggo of you!" Ranma ranted, sighing exasperatedly, "But of course that's not how Yusuke Urameshi rolls. No! He just has to troll everyone who he comes into contact with like the A-class jerk he is!"

Yusuke offered the girl a shrug of his shoulders with an unmerciful grin on his features, before calmly taking two steps back after merely lifting up his head at the feel of a C-class reiki signature closing in on him. Fast. A silver spatula had dented the ground in front of Yusuke who looked unimpressed at the whole display.

"Ucchan?"

"Stay back Ranma-honey. I'm going to teach this jackass a lesson and erase whatever spell he's put on you," Ukyo said, setting herself for battle.

"You know I love ya, Ucchan, but I must say you sound a lot like Kuno now," Ranma deadpanned.

"You don't say? I never realized that moronic jackass actually had a brain," Ukyo retorted in kind, before intensifying her glare at Yusuke, "I hope you're ready for a well-cooked justified batch of flavoured Okonomiyaki, you jackass!" She had to change the course of her plan to attack Yusuke for trying to woo her Ranchan to defend herself from a colourful, rainbow-patterned bonbori.

0_0

"Shamps, what are you doing?!"

"Shampoo no let spatula-girl attack her airen," Shampoo said resolutely, getting into a stance and missing the mischievous gleam flashing in Yusuke's eyes, 'If Shampoo defend airen from stupid spatula-girl she sure to earn Yusuke-airen's approval.'

"Were you not listening to what was coming out of his mouth? He's trying to take Ranchan for himself!" Ukyo hurried to explain.

"Shampoo no believe that. Airen said he just want girl-Ranma to let go of him, that good enough for Shampoo," Shampoo stated, Ukyo palming her forehead out of frustration.

"Atta girl, Shampoo," Yusuke supplied chirpily, "Now do your 'airen' a favour and keep her preoccupied. Who knows, you might win a few points with me in my good book, just sayin'."

"Yusuke-airen mean that?" She asked dreamily.

Yusuke shrugged, "Yeah, sure; whatever it implies."

"Then Shampoo do her best, beat spatula-girl!" Shampoo chirped, lunging at a cursing Ukyo.

"You jackass!"

"Enjoy yer rumble gals," Yusuke mumbled coolly, ignoring the brawling Ukyo and Shampoo to close the small distance between him and Ranma, the latter of which had a deadpan expression on her cute face.

"Was that really necessary?"

"Nope. But you gotta admit it makes for great entertainment." Yusuke said, flashing a mirthful gaze at the battling blurs that were Ukyo and Shampoo.

"Y'know, I'm gonna have to start calling you 'Trolluke' from now on," Ranma retorted with her arms wrapped around her slender frame.

Yusuke turned back to the girl with a trolling smirk, though he lifted his eyebrow upon noticing her shiver, 'Must be from the water,' He had to plug up his nostrils with his index and middle fingers to stop the blood from coming out of it as he ogled Ranma's form, 'Ahahahahaha.'

"Huh?" Ranma let out in confusion when she found something soft hitting her arm. Lifting up her eyes to see what it was, she was even more perplexed finding Yusuke's green dress shirt held out to her as an offering.

"Here." Yusuke mumbled, willing his trolling laughter to stay inside his head where it belonged for the time being.

"No thanks, I don't need charity," Ranma grumped.

"And that's why I don't give a damn," Yusuke replied, throwing the shirt over Ranma's shoulders.

"Hey!"

"You're gonna catch a cold, Red, rolling like that."

"Well you didn't hafta go 'bout it like that!" Ranma sulked, reluctantly hugging Yusuke's shirt to her body. She could make out Yusuke's scent on the shirt, it was comforting. It was almost as if she was hugging him indirectly, "Thanks anyway," Ranma murmured, trying to sound casual while fighting down the blush on her face.

"No probs," Yusuke said, switching his attention to the night sky, "You fought well tonight by the way."

His words caught Ranma by surprise, "So you saw, huh?"

"Yeah."

Ranma let out a sigh, "Till' couldn't beat her, though."

"Don't beat yourself up, Red," Yusuke said soothingly, turning towards Ranma to look at the girl in her eyes, "You pulled off some sweet moves, ones I couldn't even hope to perform," Ranma grinned toothily at Yusuke's admittance, "Do I even need to say you put your chivalry to one side to avoid getting your ass pounded into bloody smithereens. Now that takes balls."

"Yeah, I guess so," Ranma said, not being able to stop the sexy grin from spreading even wider across her face at Yusuke admitting she was better than him in the skill department at least.

"Till', there's a time and a place for chivalry, 'n the red light was put up the moment a gal ran at yer with the intent to make yer sleep with the fishes."

"That's right." Yusuke nodded, a proud smile on his face at Ranma's observation.

"I 'till gotta get stronger, though. I got unfinished business with Sachi, but don't worry, pal, next time I'll have her ass thrown to the curb faster than pig-boy getting lost!" Ranma said, smirking, "And then there's you, mister. Don't' think for a second I've forgotten all 'bout how much of a douche you were to me earlier. You ain't no smooth operator 'n yer ass is gonna be grass!"

Yusuke smiled at Ranma's conviction, "Why don't we put that to the test. Nothin' big, just sumthin small," Yusuke's teasing smirk was coaxing Ranma's ego into action, "Whaddya say, Red?"

"Whatcha got in mind?"

"O, nuthin' suicidal, jus-. BAM!" Yusuke snapped his arm out like a whip, only to get it halted in the circular grip of the redhead, "Huh?" He let out dumbly, finding his feet lifted off of the ground with his vision spinning as if he was on a rollercoaster, before he was dropped back onto the concrete ground with a stunned expression on his face.

"Yooooooo," Yusuke drawled out in awe, looking up at Ranma lower her arms out of the circular position she used them in to flip Yusuke around.

"Did I pass, _coach_?" Ranma quipped with a teasing smile.

"With flying colours," Yusuke retorted, speaking in awe as he picked himself up off of the ground.

Ranma grinned delightfully, giddily hugging Yusuke's shirt to her body. It wasn't much of an achievement considering there wasn't much power put behind Yusuke's punch, but it was still a sign in the right direction that Ranma was slowly closing the massive gap between her and Yusuke.

'She's gonna end up handing me my ass if I don't get back to training,' Yusuke mused.

"Well, I say that's one foot in the Yu-chan-ass-kicking-town direction," Ranma said cheerfully, Yusuke smiling sheepishly, "Wouldn't you agree you big dummy?"

"Yeah. You're getting closer to my level alright."

"Humph. And since I passed that little cakewalk test I say that earns me a free ride from you back to Granny's," Ranma said.

Yusuke blinked, "You need a lift to grandma's yard?"

Ranma nodded, trying to fight down her shyness at asking her crush such a question, but when one was exhausted from a fight one just had to suck it up, "Yup. That brawl with Sachi took too much outta me," As proof of her wariness, the redhead inadvertently lost her balance and would've fallen if it wasn't for Yusuke who held her up.

"Whoa. Careful Red," Yusuke said, his eyes flashing with unhidden concern, his arms instinctively shooting out to catch Ranma's, while said redhead rested involuntarily on his muscled chest. Yusuke didn't particularly feel right touching Ranma after what he had done. He felt as if he was tainting her pure spirit of innocence.

"I can barely walk as it is," She didn't know why, but using Yusuke as a pillow felt so relaxing. Ranma guessed it was due to her tiredness, "I need a hand if yer offering. You kinda owe me after earlier, y'know?"

"Course." Yusuke smiled, casually sweeping Ranma off of her feet and into his arms, "Legs take to the skies," The embarrassment of being held bridal-style by Yu-chan was apparently small potatoes to the incredulousness that appeared on her face from hearing Yusuke's statement.

"Wait. Hold up. Yer can fly, Yu-chan?" Ranma gaped. She melted at a tingling sensation of warmth surrounding Yusuke's entire body, subsequently covering her too, embracing her in its protectiveness. She felt as if nothing could hurt her with this comforting power surging through her veins. She relaxed as she felt the air gently hitting her face, soothing her.

Ranma was so immersed in Yu-chan's power she didn't even notice the two pass through the clouds.

How the heck was he doing this?

"Course. Who can't fly, barring guys who don't use their reiki to fight?" Yusuke asked.

"Oh-kay, it's official, yer have to show me how to tap into my reiki, Yu-chan," Ranma commanded, very much tempted to snuggle into Yusuke's arms.

"As you command, m'lady," Yusuke accepted, softening his voice and his pace to allow Ranma to relish in her first flight experience, "…As you command."


	14. The Chosen Saviour of the World

**Disclaimer: I don't own the masterpiece that is, YuYu Hakusho or the comedy spectacle that is, Ranma 1/2. Maybe one day I'll fly over to Japan, find Togashi and Rumiko, and challenge them to a game of poker with the award for the winner being the rights to both series. They should watch out! I got mean... _luck_.**

**Yes... luck.**

**Catchphrases **

**Yusuke's, "Motherfucker."**

**Ranma's, "Oh snap."**

**Kasumi's, "Oh my."**

**Akane's, "Honestly."**

**Ryoga's, "Now where am I?"**

**It's surprising how many times they've said these chosen choice of words.**

* * *

><p>"Bergh."<p>

Ranma let out a groan of exhaustion, the sound of the masculine voice coming from Ranma's throat let the pigtailed martial artist know he was in male form while his eyes shifted at the feel of something slimy moving up and down on his right cheek.

"Pops, I don't wanna wake up for school," Ranma mumbled sleepily, touching where his cheek was slimed up, "Huh?" He sniffed his hand, grimacing at the stench of saliva perfumed all over it, "Aw, man. Now who had to drool all over my face? What do I look like here, a friggin' ham sandwich?"

He opened his bleary eyes, trying to rub the tunnel vision to make out the blackish-bluish blob hovering over him, "O," He made out a pair of concerned cerulean eyes, and a hairstyle distinctively resembled to Yusuke's, "O, hey, Pu-chan! How're ya doin' pal!?"

The massive phoenix-like representation of Yusuke squawked happily upon seeing his friend was alright. Pu lowered his head to Ranma who was lying on a futon and affectionately caressed Ranma's cheek with his own.

"Haha! Hey, cut that out pal! That tickles~!" Ranma laughed cheerily, half-heartedly throwing a lazy blow at Pu. It didn't hit him but it wasn't meant to, "So, I guess I'm back at granny's," Ranma surmised, surveying the bare room he was in and recognising it as the one Genkai let him stay in.

Before he could go greet Yukina-chan a slight dulling sound echoed throughout the air.

"Hm. Someone's at the door," Ranma mumbled, the knocking abruptly increased in volume, "Hey, Granny, the door!" The pigtailed martial artist called out, getting no response other than the person at the front door knocking even louder in an attempt for someone to answer it.

"What the-?" Ranma wondered in a perplexed tone, standing up, and venturing out of the room, "Granny, Yukina-chan, the door!" Again, no answer, "Ain't no one gonna answer it?" The hammering on the entrance to Genkai's temple was out of control by now.

"Guess I'll hafta answer it," Ranma shrugged, jogging down the stairs, and over to the front door while the thumping continued to get more and more belligerent, "I said I'm comin' damn it! Hold yer horses!"

The noise ceased to exist.

Ranma blinked, "Oh. Well, shoot. Nice ta know ya listened. Keep doing that and I won't hafta bring out the smack-down on yer butt," Ranma reached the front door, then grasped the doorknob to turn it and pull it open by taking a couple of steps back.

"Hm," He hummed innocently, looking at the back of his raven-haired friend, who had one of his arms raised up, "Hey, s'up, Yu-chan? You come round for a little one-on-one?" Ranma immediately set himself in his stance with a challenging smirk on his features, "C'mon then, tough-guy, whatcha waitin' for, a bus? I'll have ya know I was only goin' easy on ya last time. Now I'm pumped to send yer ass soaring to mars!"

Instead of twisting himself around to snap at Ranma with a quick retort like the cursed fighter had expected from his friend, Yusuke simply turned his head over his shoulder with an aura of coolness about him, "Red."

Confused drowned on Ranma, "Hmmm?"

Yusuke fully turned around, revealing a bouquet of flowers in his hand which had Ranma freaking out, "I love you."

The strength was draining out of Ranma's knees from Yusuke's casual admittance.

"What-?" He backed up, not quite knowing how to respond to such a blunt statement other than to blush and to shake his head from side to side in denial, 'How the heck can he say such a thing so damn easily?'

His next line really threw Ranma for a loop, "Marry me."

"Wha-?" Ranma almost fell on his knees, but luckily for him he used the doorframe to support him and his weary knees, "N-No!" He stammered in determination, stubbornly scrubbing away the Goosebumps permeating on his arms, "I'm a guy, oh-kay!" He took a step back but Yusuke responded in kind, stepping forward.

"Marry me, Red."

"No, damn it! I'm a guyyyyyyyy-. Aaaaaaaaahhhh!" Ranma's words were exaggeratingly drawled out in desperation from the feeling of his feet no longer touching the solid flooring of Genkai's temple. With gravity working hard to bring Ranma down, his pigtail was suspended in mid-air. With the blood rushing to his head, and the icy cold liquid spattering over 'his' form, this seemed to be it.

…Would've been.

'He' fell safety and nimbly into something solid, and hard, yet comforting, and warm. The cursed warrior felt almost soothed, causing 'him' to shiver, yet still Ranma couldn't resist the urge to rest 'his' head against the defined, rock-hard ribs of a high calibre warrior's muscled chest.

Wait. What?

Ranma managed to pry 'his' bleary eyes open to snap 'himself' awake from 'his' relaxing melody to see who exactly was holding 'him', "Kyaaa!"

Of course - Yu-chan was holding her in his arms, just like Ranma had expected deep down but hoped wasn't the case.

"Marry me." Yusuke offered again with the same impressive poker-face as the first time. Even when his supposed feisty fiancée boxed him in the face it never changed from its expressionless, serious one.

"Look lame brain! I'm a guy, alright!" Ranma said assertively, but her higher than usual voice alerted her to her change in gender, and she gave herself a one-over, "Oh no!" Ranma struggled to free herself from Yusuke's comforting hold that was tingling her all over, but it was as if they were magnets, because no matter how much she wriggled she could not glide from Yusuke's arms.

"Marry me." Yusuke repeated, getting decked again by the feisty redhead.

Even with a fist in Yusuke's face Ranma could still feel their elevation lowering, "Would you do us both a favour 'n shaddap, Mr Broken Recorder!" Ranma commanded wittily, "And why the hell are ya bending yer knees, dam-." She could say no more with the wind forcibly blowing in her face as if she was sticking her head out of the window of a moving vehicle.

"A little warning would be nice Mr Roadrunner," Ranma whined, absently noticing Yusuke's change in clothes, from the plain white t shirt and blue trousers he wore, minus the green dress shirt since he had given it to her, to a green tuxedo. If Ranma was being reluctantly honest with herself, she would admit Yusuke was a good-looking guy.

"Anyways," Ranma began steadily, giving Yusuke a pointed, expectant look while he placed her down on her feet, "Where in the heck did'ya zap us to, pal?" Looking straight ahead of her, she saw a smiling old man dressed in purple and gold robes.

She seen them before on _certain _TV shows, but it couldn't be.

With her curiosity raising, Ranma surveyed her surroundings, finding a neatly crafted altar above hers and Yusuke's heads, underneath their feet was a fancy rolled out red carpet usually reserved for premiers, and poem nights, and such. They were definitely outdoor(s), since Ranma could feel the cool breeze blowing her done-up red hair, and their elevation felt very high as if they were standing on a cliff.

'No,' Ranma thought in horror, yet her heart skipped a beat.

The redhead jumped from a tap on her shoulder, making her snap her head to the side to see a familiar smiling green haired, crimson eyed lady wearing a traditional sea blue-coloured yukata, "Yukina-chan?"

Still with that ever-present sweet smile on her features, Yukina shoved a bouquet of flowers in her arms, "Oh Ranma-chan, I'm so happy for you; you were able to find your one true love," Yukina said, letting out a blissful sigh, "I hope when Kazuma and I get married, our wedding will be half as wondrous as yours and Yusuke-san's."

"H-Hey, hold on!" Ranma begged. Though she didn't wait, but instead blissfully meandered back to Granny, who was sat in the front row on the right on one of ten sets of chairs in all rows on both sides, "Has the whole world gone nuts?!"

Ranma knew deep down in her heart what was going on, it was just her refusing to come to terms with her own inner needs, and desires; for a justified reason too. After all, she was a guy, not Yusuke's soon-to be trophy wife damn it. She shouldn't be here, wearing a… pretty _dress._

"_O, _hell! I know I never put this on! I don't even remember even buying this, this, this, _monstrosity,_" Ranma raged, grabbing the edges of her wedding dress with a furious pouting expression. She turned her heated glare on the green tuxedo-clad man who was casually eyeing his golden watch, "Oh, you must think yer real smooth, huh? Using me as yer dress-up doll," Her crush didn't even acknowledge her anger, "Hey, are ya even listening to me?" Ranma grabbed Yusuke by his shoulder, trying to shake him around to face her, but her soon-to-be husband was glued to the spot.

"Argh! Answer me damn it!" Pouted Ranma, huffing and puffing as the immovable object that was Yusuke blanked her completely, though she thought the drama brought between the two would raise eyebrows, so she looked at their guests.

What Ranma found was not what she expected.

"Huh? Do y'all need hearing-aids and contact-lenses or sumthin?!"

They all just smiled with teary-eyed, happy expressions on their faces, from the guests of Yusuke which Ranma guessed were on the left since that was where Genkai and Yukina were, opposite to where the Tendo-sisters were.

Genma and Mr Tendo were nowhere in sight, but she supposed that was to be expected. One - Yusuke despised them and held great disdain for the both of them. And two - they were most likely butt-hurt that they couldn't get Akane and Ranma to marry to carry on their legacy.

Still, there was someone who Ranma expected to be here considering the fact he was very close to her crush and Akane in particular.

"Hmm. Where the heck's pig boy? I thought he of all people would at least be at this sham of a weddin-." A violent eruption of a massive plateau blowing up in the distance cut Ranma off.

"NOW WHERE AM I!?"

"Well, that solves that mystery," Ranma deadpanned, looking to her right from the cliff they were on to see the lost-boy standing in a massive crater opposite to the cliff they were on. She graced Yusuke with a glance to see him scrolling through the contacts on his phone before turning to eye Ryoga's girlfriend's reaction.

While Nabiki had a sly, mocking smile on her face to contrast Kasumi's bashful one, Akane had her head lowered, shaking it from side to side as she pinched the bridge of her nose; a sign of her exasperation.

'Hah! Well will ya lookie there, shows not everything's all red roses for pig-boy and tomboy,' The redhead quipped mentally, a smirk crossing her features.

"Hey."

The redhead snapped her head back to Yusuke at finally hearing words that wasn't 'marry me' leave his mouth. Of course he wouldn't say such words, he was on the phone with his soon-to be bride at his side. Derp.

"Oh sensei, thank god you called, I'm lost! I'm not gonna make it to your wedding! I don't know what to do, help, help!"

With a deadpan expression written on her adorable face, Ranma turned her head in the direction of the anguishing lost-boy to see him distressing excessively with his phone pressed against his ear, "Idiot! If only he would open his damn eyes, and look he might actually find where he needs to be!" She drawled out an overly unneeded groan to signal her frustration, "Then again what's good eyesight when the guy can't even separate his left from his right. The idiot needs a damn GPS system glued to his head just so he doesn't get lost in his own house."

"Now, Ryo, just take it easy, alright?"

"Okay, okay! Just tell me how I can get to your wedding!"

"Alright. You just gotta-."

Ranma watched in barely suppressed rage of annoyance as Yusuke attempted to pinpoint their direct position for his student in various details, each one simpler than the last, but despite Yusuke's patience Ryoga was proving to be a challenge. No matter how Yusuke tried to slice the explanation Ryoga needed to hammer into his head to bring his lost-behind to the altar, he still wasn't getting it. The lost-boy looked everywhere but in the direction he'd need to take to get himself to Yusuke's side.

It was dangerously treading the fine line of cute to just straight-up annoying. And from Ranma's point-of-view, it was well past the shallow pool of amusing and had leapfrogged into the deep pool of infuriation. If rage was a sort of alcohol than Ranma could wholeheartedly say she was drunk off of her head with it.

She needed to go cold-turkey.

"Would-ya just turn on the super-speed already, and just bring his lost pork ass here!" Ranma screeched.

Despite the harshness of his bride's voice, Yusuke still turned towards her with a pleasantly sweet grin on his face. Too sweet, in fact; to the point (where) Ranma had her suspicions that this wasn't the man who she had supposedly 'given' her heart to.

"You're right, honey. What would I ever do without you?" With that said, Yusuke vanished as if he wasn't even there in the first place.

"Gee. I don't know, maybe find an actual girl to play house with, nut-job!" Ranma muttered irritably, her anger increasing at the subtle praises she could hear coming from their audience.

"Oh my, she knows him so well."

"Humph. Ryoga-kun and I are just as in sync as Ranma and Urameshi-san."

"I'll admit it's pretty impressive how she plays the part so well."

"I can see many happy years ahead for Ranma-chan and Yusuke-san."

"Hm. Dimwits are obviously made for each other."

The Tendo-siblings from Kasumi, to Akane, and lastly, to Nabiki started, Yukina continued, and Genkai grouchily finished, though if it was someone who knew the strict old-fashioned lady on a personal level, like Ranma or Yusuke, they would notice the tiniest bit of affection shining in her eyes.

"It's not lovey-dovey, what's wrong with y'all?!" Ranma questioned with a rant, slumping her shoulders at Yukina's encouraging smile, "Not you too, Yukina-chan!"

"Now where am I?"

Ranma straightened her shoulders, coolly turning her head to the lost-boy, and her soon to-be husband who was standing right behind him, "Take a wild guess."

When Ryoga looked up curiously, Ranma found it a tad odd upon finding no signs of disdain for her in Ryoga's posture, or any hate in his eyes for that matter. She guessed that since Ryoga now had Akane there really was no reason to hold such hatred for her, with Akane's love to eclipse his hatred for Ranma.

"Saotome?"

Ranma rolled her eyes. Even now, she and Ryoga still weren't past formalities.

"Duh. Who did ya think it was, Cinderella?" Ryoga just nodded to the sarcastic rude girl's surprise. She had expected an angry retort but she supposed it wouldn't be smart to insult the bride since her groom could nuke multiple countries.

"Sensei!" Ryoga chirped upon turning around to find his master standing behind him, hugging the man who took it upon himself to raise his power-level. He owed this man a great debt, "Thanks for bringing me here, Yusuke-sensei!" Ryoga wiped his brow, sighing, "Phew, I thought I was screwed back at the wrong turn I took in New York City, hehe." Ryoga explained, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head with a laugh.

A bizarre expression found its way to Ranma's face. The redhead had to rattle her brain at the befuddling confirmation Ryoga was inadvertently travelling to the other side of the planet like an eternal traveller always on a mission to find something he had no bearings to, and no earthly idea of its location, yet the fact of the matter remained, he was still cursed.

He even explained to Ranma the day he finally tracked her down after getting cursed where in the nine hells he was during the three days Ranma patiently waited for his lost behind to show up, so she could wipe the yard with him, order him an ambulance, and call it a day: treading into other countries by sheer coincidence.

If he could make it to France by _chance_ then what was stopping Ryoga of setting out on a long and painful journey to find Jusenkyo? Directional problems? Bitch, please! That never deterred him from hunting Ranma down to the ends of the earth. It was a minor inconvenience at worst.

"Course. I couldn't get married without ya here, Ryo," Yusuke said in a cheery tone, "You're my best man for crying out loud!"

"Oh, sensei! You're too good to me!" Ryoga bawled happily.

"Okay, Lee. Calm down." Ranma deadpanned.

Yusuke stuck his knuckles to his brother-like pupil's chin, softly, but affectionately pushing his head a little to the left, "Naw, Ryo. If anything, you're an S-class student. You aced the training as if you were taking a stroll in the park. For that I gotta bend over backwards, and apologize for failing you as a sensei. I shoulda been more strict with ya, but I wasn't. I'm sorry."

"Don't you start!" Ranma yelled commandingly, yet she was ignored by the melodramatic master and student having a moment where you realize through all your master's leniency, or your sensei's inadequacy, you forgive him and just appreciate his tenacious effort.

It was the finer things that mattered here.

A pair of identical _manly_ tears was running down the master's and student's eyes.

"Ryo."

"Oh Yusuke-sensei!"

"Ryo."

"Oh Yusuke-sensei!"

"Ryo."

"Oh Yusuke-sensei!"

"Ryo."

"Oh Yusuke-sensei!"

"Ryo."

"Oh Yusuke-sensei!"

They couldn't resist anymore. They leapfrogged into each other's arms in a show of passionate brotherly love, proceeding to not only gross Ranma out, but also the bride and groom's entire audience.

"Ryo./Oh Yusuke-sensei!"

'This is hella a lot a' sappiness!' Ranma observed as if her eyes were honed in on the scene of Ryoga and Yusuke displaying their bond. A beautiful darkish glowing sun in the distance half way to sleep-land even appeared, complete with sandy shores, and crashing waves that just seemed to materialize from thin-air!

'Oh snap, I know I've seen this somewhere!' The scenic bench with a setting sun was a dead giveaway. She had to look away, fast.

'Ugh! I can't move!' Ranma growled with a pained expression on her face as she was forcibly becoming more and more immersed in the trappable illusion. Or maybe reality had finally sunk on her, 'NO! I don't love Yu-chan! Helllllll, no! There's notta fuzzy-butt's chance in hell of me tying the knot with him!' Finally, Ryoga and Yusuke separated, the illusion lifting immediately, much to the relief of those present.

"What!? Did'ya remember, 'Oh snap, I'm 'supposedly' 'bout to get married, so shove this man-love up the butt 'caus-." Any quip Ranma had died in her throat when Yusuke moved in on her, the two most dangerous weapons known to Ranma nearing her face, all puckered out and stuff, "Uhm! Yu-chan! Hold on, oh-kay!" Ranma stammered, blushing furiously.

She had to kick herself at how soothed she felt from Yusuke gently cupping her cheek, with a loving, yet confident smirk on his features.

"Just a little something to get us through the boring shit the old geezer's gonna gabble on about. Think of it as the appetizer," Enough said, time for action. Action it was, with Ranma's world completely shutting down with a pair of lips assaulting hers.

* * *

><p>"Kyaaaa!"<p>

The young red haired woman screamed, wheezing with a sweaty face.

"That jerk," Ranma murmured. When she shivered she wasn't sure whether it was from fear, or from desire. This was worrying, "H-He… kissed me," The normally feisty redhead said, barely louder than a whisper.

Under any normal circumstance she would be excessively confident and exceedingly self-assure in herself, but when it came to the matters relating to physical human intimate activities, such as kissing, Ranma was as shy as a little kid getting teased in the playground for mooching her crush.

"Ranma-chan!" Ranma glanced up from her position on her small futon to see Yukina frantically barging through her door, a concerned expression on her features, "Are you okay?" She fretted, bending down to check her friend's temperature with the back of her hand.

"Yukina-chan," Ranma said, almost as if she was puzzled to see her friend here before giving her surroundings a one-over. It was refreshing to see such warm concern from someone who wasn't trying to either tie her down or in the case of Akane; was bipolar like no one's business. The girl had a tendency to go from pretty okay, if not cool, to outright malicious at the tip of a hat.

"Hm. So, I'm back at granny's," Ranma observed. The room she stayed in courtesy of Genkai was rather under furnished, with it only having one set of Chester draws that had the clothes Yusuke had kindly brought over from the Tendos in it, wooden tiled flooring, and a sliding door, 'So, all that musta been a dream,' Ranma traced her lips, still feeling a slight buzz from the electrifying kiss dream-Yusuke had given dream-her, 'It felt… so real.'

Yukina positioned herself in seiza beside Ranma, "You were asleep when Mr Urameshi brought you back last night," Yukina clarified, a dreamy gaze in her eyes, hacking Ranma out of her thoughts like a brown wooden stick harshly dragging an unentertaining comedian off of the stage.

Ranma didn't share the same sentiments as her, "You saw that!?" The redhead felt a growing fear in the pit of her stomach, "And granny, too?" Yukina was just looking _too_ innocently cheery now, "Aaaaah!" The former Saotome heir literally wanted to hide underneath a rock. She musta looked like such a helpless little girl all snuggled up in Yu-chan's arms! Damn it! That wasn't her! She wasn't no frail gal relying on the 'man' to come to her rescue! Hell naw!

"I think it's sweet," Yukina offered in a gentle fashion, more so to ease the clear discomfort she could see her friend was in via Ranma's posture and facial expression, "Urameshi-san was so gentle with you, asking me personally to tend to your wounds."

Ranma gave herself a one-over, her eyes widening slightly at what she was still wearing, "So you were the one who bandaged me up, right Yukina-chan?" Ranma didn't know what she felt she was more joyous about, the fact that Yusuke didn't take his chance to grope her when he had the chance, or the fact that he had left her with his shirt, 'Guess even Mr perv has his restraints,' Ranma surmised with a cheeky smirk.

"Yes, that's correct," Yukina confirmed, looking a tad worried, "Your wounds were quite bad, nothing too severe, but it'll still take a couple of days to heal completely."

Hearing that she would ultimately be okay from the ass-whooping she received from Sachiko, Ranma let out a sigh of relief.

"Who were you fighting?" Yukina enquired quietly.

As Ranma glanced up into the crimson curious eyes of her friend, a bashful grin appeared on her face; but before she could really dive into the meat of the explanation, she felt a searing sensation connect right on her forehead, forcing her to grasp the assaulted brow with both her hands, tears developing in her eyes, "Ow! Whatcha do that for?"

Standing by the doorframe was the owner to the temple herself, Genkai, beckoning her over with a wriggling index finger pointing to herself, while Yukina had an uneasy, nervous smile on her face at the calling motion of Genkai's finger.

"What? What'd I do now, Granny?" Ranma grumped, eyeing the cigarette which Genkai had chucked into her forehead. When she never got an answer from the old lady, she looked back up to her to see Genkai still gesturing her over with her finger, "Oh, fine!" She pouted, submitting to her grandmother-figure's will.

Once Ranma got up, she was given the red light by Genkai's halting hand, "What now?!"

"Dimwit! If you're going to come over to me, the least you could do is pick up my cigarette and bring it to me!" Genkai clarified cantankerously.

Ranma scoffed with a pouty lip, yet still bent down and plucked Genkai's cigarette off of the ground, "Mebbies if yer hadn't a' used it as a dang boomerang, ya wouldn't need me to fetch it for yer, yer darn crabby bat!" The redhead muttered underneath her breath, missing the wriggling of Genkai's ears.

"What was that brat?"

"Oh nothin' granny."

XxX

**The World's Strongest Man**

C

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_FOURTEEN_

**The Chosen Saviour of the World**

XxX

"Damn Ryo, you sure gave it everything you had, eh?" Yusuke stated, dropping ceremoniously to the ground in front of the Tendo Dojo with a barely conscious Ryoga on his back, "I hope ya socked 'em one each for your master, you know what I'm sayin'?"

Ryoga coughed, feeling a sharp pain in the pit of his chest. Still, he laughed slightly, even if it was painful to do so. Happosai and Genma had really given him the run around, cleverly keeping him on his toes with their innovated tag-team manoeuvres. No matter what they threw at Ryoga, the selfish duo could not take him down. Ryoga tanked their attacks, and then some.

The young fox-fanged man tanked many Happo Great fire bursts, Galore.

Genma had to up the intensity after Ryoga was able to delay the detonation of one of Happosai's great fire bursts, by telling him there was women's underwear on the ground, resulting in the bomb blowing up in the little old man's face which sent him blasting away.

Whatever the thieving martial artist did – which Ryoga shortly found out was a pretty clear cut definition of the skilled warrior – had Ryoga on the ropes, literally. Ryoga defined the word helpless in his 'fight' with the one-arm martial artist. Not only could the lost-boy not see Genma, but his Ki-signature might as well have been thrown to the wind for all the good it did in Ryoga sniffing Genma's position.

It felt similar to the times he had sparred with Yusuke, except instead of just Genma's energy going into a stoic-exterior, he did as well, to the point where his whole body became invisible. If it wasn't for Yusuke showing up, Ryoga was sure he would've ultimately been pummelled into the ground by that technique of Genma's.

"Yeah, I gave it my all sensei, but it still wasn't enough!" The burned up, scarred, and bruised Ryoga anguished on his master's back, "I almost had that jerk as well, but for his damn burglary-attack! Curse it. I thought I was one step closer to reaching Saotome's level, but it seems I still have a long way to go."

"True dat. You ain't got nuthin on Red at this minute!" Ryoga didn't know whether to fall into the massive emo hole of depression or use the deadpanned hand that was his palm to land against his forehead at Yusuke's blunt confession, "Shit. Red's power tore the roof off on its way to orbit. I know you musta felt it right, even if you were duking it out with Midget-geezer and Lard-ass."

Ryoga sighed, opening his mouth to speak but no words came out. Yusuke could feel his student tensing, "Y-Yeah," He finally managed to growl out, his crinkling face showed his reluctance to admit such, "That damn bastard! Even when he's not around me, he still finds some way to distract me! Because of him, I got decked in the face by one of that dirty old man's bombs!"

"You shouldn't blame other people for your own shortcomings, Ryo," Yusuke advised, a stony expression masking his features, "That's just makes you pathetic, know what I mean?"

An almost wistful smile developed on Ryoga's face, "Sensei, you always tell me what I need to hear, not what _I _want to hear," He sighed, "It's sort of, weird, and… frightening," Ryoga managed to grit out, "I've spent most of my life blaming my problems on other people, and no one has ever taken the time out of their day to call me out on it."

"Most peeps don't bother to take you under their wing either, Ryo," Yusuke said with a good-spirited laugh, "But hey, look at it this way," Ryoga looked over Yusuke's shoulder, seeing his master raise up his index finger, "Your brawl with Lard ass may have ended up as a stalemate but at least you got something worthwhile out of the whole fiasco."

Confusion drowned on Ryoga's face, "What do you mean, Yusuke-sensei?"

"What I mean is, before I sent Lard-ass on his flight trip to I don't-give-a-flying-fuck-where-he's-gone, I roughed him up to see if he would spill the details on his nifty burglar attack."

Hope now began filling Ryoga's eyes, "And did you…" He trailed off, gulping a huge lump in his throat. To think he could have that skill in his arsenal, he would be _almost _unstoppable. Excluding his sensei and anyone that he knew, no one would be able to _touch _him, even _Saotome_.

The lost-boy could just picture it clearly now, himself standing victorious over a downed, humbled Ranma Saotome with one foot on Ranma's back, while _**his**_ dear Akane holds her hands close to her heart and applauds him for putting the _ingrate_ in his place.

"_Hahaha! I guess you couldn't… see me, Saotome_!" Fantasy Ryoga declared in a smug manner, smirking.

"_Oh Ryoga-kun, you're the best!_" Fantasy Akane said dreamily, swooning over her powerful man.

"Stay with me now, Ryo," Yusuke urged, glancing over his shoulder to see the faraway, cheery, and dreamy expression on his student's face.

Hearing his sensei's voice popped the polite disciple's dream bubble, "Huh?" When he caught a glimpse of Yusuke-sensei's left eyebrow cocked up in amusement, he realized his mistake, "Oh right," He had the decency to look sheepish, "Sorry, sensei, you were saying."

Yusuke gave his student one more pointed eyed look, before turning his head back to the direction of the front door, being that they all but there already, "The info I squeezed outta Lard-ass, everything you could possibly want to know on the Umi-Sen Ken, from how to nail it, to figuring out its tweaks, is written on a scroll, which just conveniently happens to be tucked away inside his Chester-draws upstairs."

Ryoga's eyes went wide in debrief, "You mean I can find the scroll to that attack right here!" At Yusuke-sensei's nod and smirk, Ryoga beamed with delight, "Yes! I'm so happy, with this technique Saotome will never again be able to beat me!"

Ryoga's happy train was momentarily stalled by his master, "I wouldn't count my eggs before they hatch if I were you."

Ryoga blinked blankly, "Huh?" He watched his teacher reach into his pocket to take out the pocket knife he occasionally used to let them into the Tendo Dojo in calm indifference, "What do you mean by that sensei?"

"What I mean is," Yusuke started. As per usual, the flimsy lock was no match for his superior lock-picking skills, thus the door opened effortlessly, "There's one major flaw to this ninja-ass move of Lard-ass' and it sticks out like a sore thumb to someone whom primarily source of power is as dull as a brick wall."

Yusuke's poor simplistic student wasn't getting it.

"Huh?"

"Reiki (spirit energy), Ryo…"

"Oh, woops."

That brought the lost-boy back. At first he remembered how excited he felt when Yusuke informed him how reiki (spirit energy) had worked up in the mountains during one of their training sessions. It wasn't an energy supply which relied predominantly on a single exaggerated emotion, such as depression in Ryoga's case, confidence - which bordered on blatant arrogance – on Ranma's scale, and fury in Akane's, but rather it encompassed all the emotions of the wielder to a single point where it no longer required the use of an emotion to power-up, but rather the sheer strength of the user.

The stronger they were the stronger their reiki would be.

Ryoga had always noted, albeit with bitter frustration, in his spars with Yusuke-sensei how calm his teacher could be. At first he figured the reason for Yusuke-sensei's indifference was because of the massive difference in their strength-levels, but closer inspection with the lost-boy's keen senses showed Ryoga how, _emotionless _Yusuke-sensei's energy was.

With energy so impassive it left Yusuke's mind clear to think up strategies on the spot like it was going out of style. On the contrary, because Ryoga focused so hard on either exploding with super fury, or wallowing in depression to pump up his Ki, his mind was often so clouded he would just straight up charge at his opponent leaving all sorts of gaps in his defence.

Reiki (Spirit energy) was an incredibly nifty, and _far more_ powerful energy source than Ki, but what did that have to do with this subject regarding Ryoga learning the Way of the Silent Thief/Burglar?

"Oh, I get it now," Ryoga said, his voice laced with a hint of polite curiosity, "But what does that have to do with me still being wary of losing to that damn ingrate Saotome after getting the Umi-Sen Ken down?"

"Easy. Red's gonna start tapping into her reiki (spirit energy) reserves very soon."

The fact that Yusuke referred to Ranma as a girl sailed over Ryoga's head, since the initial shock of hearing that his rival was close to tripling his power took clear priority, "What? H-How is Saotome so close to using his reiki (spirit energy)?" He almost yelled, but for the tightening pain in his chest which forcefully kept his voice to a moderate harsh whisper. Though realizing he had spoken to his sensei in such a manner, Ryoga was on hand to add in a meek, apologetic manner, "Sir… I just meant how would Saotome using his reiki be able to stop me from defeating him time and again with the Umi-Sen Ken?"

"Well," Yusuke held up an index finger, walked into the Dojo, then back-heeled the door shut, "It's funny you should ask that, Ryo, but…" Taking a step past the stairs with a blinking Ryoga staring at the top of his head, Yusuke halted in his advancement right there upon picking up on the sounds of light dull thuds coming closer towards them.

"I'll tell ya afterwards, 'cause it seems like your bird wants to get first dibs in." An odd, inquisitive expression graced Ryoga's facial features, complete with blinking eyes.

"Ryoga-kun!" Fortunately for the lost-boy, the sound of Akane's light, yet worried-filled voice hit his ears, answering his unspoken inquiry. Like a bolt of thunder, Ryoga shot his head up in time to see Akane hobbling around the corner. The fact that she was in crutches obviously didn't even make Yusuke bat an eyelash.

Akane froze. It wasn't the sight of Yusuke that had the girl pausing in her tracks, since many of times had he just walked in like he owned the place this past month; no, Akane was over Yusuke's rudeness, or at the very least abided by it, since there was really nothing she could do about the man's lack of manners.

Yusuke may have shared Ranma's rudeness, but the gelled-back warrior did **_not_ **share the pigtailed martial artist's… guilt and soft-heartedness. Whenever Akane screeched at Yusuke for his clear lack of manners, she was always left with an odd feeling upon seeing no signs of fear on Yusuke's face. He had shown time and again he was not inept with dealing with the opposite sex like Ranma was, and had no qualms with rising his hand to a woman or threatening her, if only to avoid spanking her outright for trying to push her luck with him.

Yusuke had made it no secret that he would snap Akane like a twig if she ever tried to lunge at him like she was in his league.

It was jarring to Akane since she had just expected Yusuke to react like Ranma would whenever she lost her temper with him.

That ruthlessness made a shiver run down Akane's spine but all she could do was grit her teeth, pout, and keep her angry bottled up inside, because otherwise Yusuke would merely looked down on her in contempt, blanking her out as if she wasn't even there. There was something about arguing with a grown ass man not in the least bit interested in the topic 'they' just so happened to be engaged in a heated debate about.

It makes the one keeping the supposed controversy alive look like a brat.

Ugh. Before her humbling at the hands of the now deceased Mr S, Akane had _**almost **_missed Ranma after making herself look like a total fool so many times she had lost count against Yusuke. Sure, the pigtailed boy grinded on her nerves, but she'd had a _chance _to assert her will over him. Plus, if that knuckleheaded Ranma even dared to hurt her feelings, Akane could just use her power to pound him.

Though now that Akane thought about it, if she could barely tank one measly blow from Mr S, a guy who her Ryoga defeated effortlessly, the same fanged young man who was compatible with the pigtailed martial artist then shouldn't Ranma have Akane dead-to-rights before she could even move?

Was he-…

Wow. Ranma voluntarily became Akane's training dummy, so she could release her anger. She didn't know whether to call that admirable or just plain _stupid_, since she did dislocate his bones when he antagonized her for no clear reason.

It made her think. Did Ranma just want someone taking charge of him? Honestly, that seemed very unbecoming of a martial artist. Self-respect was a key-thing Akane could at least take out of her time as a martial artist.

Maybe she should take her own advice about Ranma leaving Kuno to his fantasy world and just not take Ranma seriously.

Hmm?

"Akane-chan!" Feeling his student's movements squirming on his back, Yusuke knew he wanted to come off, and willingly helped him off. Yusuke piggybacking Ryoga was what really made Akane freeze in her tracks, horror in her eyes. Yusuke _never _carried his student. Never.

Even after a hard day of training which drained so much energy out of Ryoga, he could barely walk, yet as far as Yusuke was concerned, Ryo still had two arms and legs, so he could move himself, even if he had to crawl. That couldn't be closer to the truth.

"Oh no!" Akane said with a gasp, utterly horrified at the sight of a thoroughly battered Ryoga. She bit back the gulp in her throat when Ryoga staggeringly landed against the wall, "Hold on!" Strengthening her resolve to be by her boyfriend's side in his time of need, Akane's face scrunched up from the strain of moving around while in crutches.

But still she managed to get near Ryoga via straight-up doggedness, but wasn't able to reach him fully due to an obstacle that'd yet to move from his spot, a barrier clad in white, with combed-back black hair to display his proud delinquency, and a mask of indifference on his face.

"Move it, buster!" Akane commanded, momentarily forgetting her manners with her emotions running so wildly.

Akane felt a rock hard pain come tumbling down on her head.

"Ouch!" Ryoga's eyes stretched wide open in horror, while Akane gave a stiff, jolt movement to indicate her pain. Ryoga's mouth flopped, while Akane held an eye shut with her head still throbbing from the blow the wolf young man had given her.

"S-Sensei," Yusuke graced his distressed stammering student with a half-lidded passing glance.

"What… what was that for?" Akane asked, being careful to keep the harshness out of her voice lest she wanted another punch to her head. So she settled for a pout.

"What do you think?" Yusuke decided to answer her question with one of his own, his tone held a hint of sarcasm, "That I'm gonna allow myself to be treated like a noob by someone who I could beat with my little pinkie finger?" He looked at her in a mock-bizarre manner, "Yeah… what was _I_ thinking right?"

Akane scowled; there was that stupid similarity he shared with Ranma, the stupid sarcastic jerks, "Well you didn't have to hit me you know!"

"And you coulda asked me to kindly step outta the way, but I guess we can't all get what we want now, can we?"

"Ugh!"

Sensing where this was going, Ryoga carefully scooted towards his injured girlfriend, with the very helpful wall acting as his crutch to get him to her without dropping.

"Ryoga-kun!" Akane's angry persona swiftly tagged itself out to make way for her sweet one as she turned a worrying eye onto him.

"Ak-…" Ryoga tried, struggling to get the words out with his body so damaged. He couldn't help but lean towards Akane, putting a teensy bit of weight on her shoulders, "A-Akane-chan."

"Aw, my poor baby," Ryoga mentally cringed at Akane's affection alias for him. It was almost too good to be true that she was calling him her baby in his normal, human form instead of his piglet one. Too bad he hadn't got around to telling her, _yet._ "Here. Let mama help you."

Freeing one of her arms from her crutch, giving said crutch to Ryoga, Akane pulled Ryoga's left arm around her shoulders, wrapping her right arm around his torso. The two injured lovebirds ended up supporting each other's weights, with Ryoga doing more of the grunt work.

"Uh…" Ryoga felt very awkward being so close to his girlfriend with his sensei right behind them, breathing down their necks, in the figurative sense. His face heated as he shifted most of their weight on his side, momentarily forgetting about his wounds.

"I almost can't believe Grandfather Happosai and Uncle Saotome would put you through all that Ryoga-kun," Akane said solemnly, catching Ryoga via sheer surprise.

Despite being very reluctant Ryoga sucked up enough courage to ask Akane the question that only now been plaguing his mind, "Y-You knew," His fears looked closer to being confirmed from a serious nod of Akane's head.

"You got that right!" Akane said, unintentionally calming Ryoga down with her playful declaration. Though it only lasted a minute since she sighed, "They woke me up when they came in. I decided to stay quiet because the last thing you needed was to be worrying about me…" Akane's eyes lowered in sad acceptance of her uselessness.

"Oh Akane-chan."

Akane offered Ryoga a modest, shy smile upon picking up on the sad, sympathetic tone of his voice, "By the way, thanks for the kiss, my fair, gallant knight." She could feel her prince-charming flinching in her grasp.

"Y-You felt that," Ryoga said in a small, sheepish voice.

Akane droned affirmatively, "It tickled."

A deep, silent victorious feeling mixed with guilt swelled up inside of Ryoga's gut, but he managed to suppress it, "That's what I was aiming for," Ryoga murmured, appearing modest. Unbeknownst to Akane, the image of a similar tiny black piglet with a yellow bandana wrapped around its neck flashed in Ryoga's mind, putting sadness in his eyes, 'Just like you've don-. _Do _for me.'

Akane nodded, swallowing a lump down her throat. "I…" She exhaled, trying to forcibly will the butterflies in her stomach to go away, "-It was… nice."

Ryoga nodded slowly, his small, quiet voice showcasing his shyness, "I'm glad."

The two fell into a comfortable silence, and one of which Yusuke wasn't particularly a fan of, 'Aw, boo,' Yusuke levelled the two with a bored, half-lidded gaze, 'No action? Shit. I was about to bring the popcorn out.' Yusuke thought sarcastically.

Akane decided to sway away from the subject of her enjoying Ryoga's kiss on her nose, "You must have given Grandfather Happosai and Uncle Saotome your all, huh Ryoga-kun?"

"Yeah, I did," Ryoga agreed, nodding his head in agreement. Though the way Akane made it sound it was as if she had seen the results of the fight first-hand, "How'd you know, Akane-chan?"

Akane let out a giggle containing almost no humour, "I saw the news," She answered dryly, letting out a small sigh, "Apparently; there have been huge amounts of damage reported on the outskirts of Nerima. Even a mountain looked like it's taken a battering and another one has been completely erased from existence!"

Ryoga cringed, "Yeah, we-."

"Oh! And a dozen more mountains around the region of China have also been reported to have been wiped off of the face of the earth like a nuclear bomb exploded by them!" Unknown to her, Yusuke was nodding his head with a proud smirk on his face, "While I don't know who destroyed those mountains in China, I do know whose fault it is for the ruined canal and the wasteland that once was a park yesterday, also reported on the news," Akane smiled, giving the nervous Ryoga a playful squeeze.

"Guilty," Yusuke said, strolling up to the side of Akane.

"Huh?" Akane looked dumbly at Yusuke, "You were the one who destroyed the canal and the park yesterday, Urameshi-san?"

"Naw. I was talking about the mountains up in China," Yusuke explained, an air of nonchalance about him.

While Akane wanted to glare at Yusuke before chiding him for scarring the earth, she knew that wasn't in her best interest. So she settled for a question, "Why did you do that, Urameshi-san?"

"That little old smurf lady who runs the cat café told me and Red about your encounter with that ass bot Doctor S or whatever its name was. By the way, great job kicking his ass, Ryo," Yusuke abruptly complimented Ryoga, ignoring Akane's surprised expression for the time being.

"No problem, sensei," Ryoga accepted the compliment easily enough.

"Moving on," Yusuke returned to the task at hand, "For the sake of getting these monkeys off of Red's back I headed there and shut them down. Permanently," He could see his student sighing in relief.

"So Ranma came back to Nerima?" Akane said. It took a while but Akane had gotten used to Yusuke's nicknames for her, Ranma, and her daddy. While it was rude of him to blatantly call them out for what they were she couldn't deny his names for Soun and Ranma held an element of truth. Though why the hell he called her 'Blindy' she would never know.

"She was just passing through the neighbourhood," Yusuke dismissed with a casual tone to his voice.

"'She'?" Akane repeated with air-quotes, eyes narrowing dangerously, 'Ooooo! You're such a pervert, Urameshi-san!'

"Yeah," Yusuke returned in calm indifference, "She stopped by yesterday, we talked, the old lady gave us the low down of what happened to you in school, I took off to China with an old friend of mine, took names, and saw the Jusenkyo Preservation Society blown off of the map."

Akane and Ryoga shared a blinking glance with each other.

"Didn't Ranma go with you to China?" Akane voiced her and Ryoga unspoken question.

"Naw," Yusuke said, "To be honest I was hoping to spare her from that, but yeahhhhh," He scratched the back of his head, letting out a humourless laugh, "I underestimated Red's thirst for battle 'cause before I knew what the fuck had gone down, trouble came looking for her. So, yeah; if you see parts of the town which needs rearranging; know Red had a hand in that."

"Ugh. It figures that idiot would find a way to get himself involved in that mess!" Akane grunted with a lour.

"I agree!" Ryoga said with a grit of his teeth, "Damn that Saotome! Yusuke-sensei offered him to take care of ou-. _His _Jusenkyo problem! And what does he do? Spit in Yusuke-sensei's face like the _damn_ ingrate he is," While Akane looked at her boyfriend with a curious expression – wondering why he backtracked so suddenly – Ryoga raged, "Curse him!"

"And that's the green light for me to bypass this one folks," Yusuke said.

While Yusuke liked Ryoga, and didn't particularly have anything against Akane barring the fact that she tended to grate on his nerves, he wasn't just going to stand around, and hear them rage at Ranma. As far as he was concerned Akane and Ryoga could stay there bad-mouthing Ranma together until the cows come home.

"I'm gonna get that scroll to Lard-ass' ninja whatever-the-fuck-it-called attack," Yusuke explained, jerking his thumb in the direction of the stairs. He gave Ryoga and Akane a mischievous fanged grin most fitting of his particular breed of demon; a wolf, "Why don't you two _lovebirds_ make yourself comfortable in the living room," He winked at their blushing faces, "I won't be long."

"Urameshi-san!" Akane whined.

Akane's flustered voice was like music to Yusuke's ears, as he began coolly treading over to the stairs of the Tendo Dojo.

"Stop picking on Ryoga-kun and I!"

Yusuke tossed a wave over his shoulder, "Sure. I'll stop 'picking' on you two lovebirds," He intoned with a few snickers coming from his lips, "-When the apocalypse happens," As Ryoga offered some placating gestures to his fuming girlfriend, Yusuke rounded a corner and began climbing the stairs.

The half demon came to a stop after stepping off of the highest step on the foot of the top floor at the sight of his flunky, her usual false chirpy smile engraved on her face.

"How do you do, boss," Nabiki said, using her womanly charms to hopefully get on Yusuke's good side by swinging her arms around Yusuke's neck, embracing him in a hug.

"Nabs," Yusuke greeted, his unmoving posture and facial expression showed he wasn't into the hug as much as he wasn't returning it. Though, Yusuke professionally checked out Nabiki since she was so close to him, mentally letting out an impressed hum in the recess of his mind. Her thighs and creamy legs were emphasized by her skin-tight black-leotard, 'Damn. This gal's the looker of the family, forreal.'

Nabiki pulled her cheek away from Yusuke's, but kept her arms wrapped around his neck and even threw her back heel upwards, "Well, if the news is anything to go by, I say you've accomplished your mission relatively easy," She beamed.

"The news doesn't lie," Yusuke snorted, bored.

"Oh. You seem just thrilled about that!" Nabiki said with her voice laced with her usual sarcasm.

Yusuke eyed the girl clung to him with a flat expression, "What have I got to be happy about? Doing the deed? Yeah. I forgot icing motherfuckers was such a joyous activity," He returned her sarcasm in spades, "So, yeah. I'm _thrilled._"

"Cheer up, boss," Nabiki said, giving Yusuke a cheery, sardonic smile, "I suppose you could always look at it from the perspective that someone had to do it."

Her boss levelled her with an unimpressed, lackadaisical gaze of his eyes, bringing up his hands to purge Nabiki's arms from his neck, "I don't recall ever being down-in-the-dumps over what I did," Shoving his hands into his pockets, Yusuke stepped forward, with Nabiki taking a step to the side to allow him to pass, "I ain't."

"Oh." Nabiki said, eyes lowering while she began to follow the leader, "Well, you know, you certainly could've fooled me."

"Geez. I didn't realize my acting skills were so top notch," Yusuke groused sardonically, making his way to the room which he had retrieved Ranma's clothes from, "I'll try to keep that in mind next time I audition for a movie." He grasped the doorknob.

"It was my assumption you would've felt something for dealing with Saotome's little… problem. After all, you are only human now, right boss?" Yusuke paused his opening of Ranma's old room at Nabiki's observation, catching Nabiki's interest, "You… are human?"

"Hm." The half-breed grunted cryptically, looking over his shoulder at the observing eyes of Nabiki, "Yeah…" He twisted the doorknob, fully pushed open the door, and walked into the room owned by Genma, "Can you just like… Oh I dunno, drop it?"

"If you insist," Nabiki said, a small smile on her face despite her curiosity having been aroused by Yusuke's slight, but noticeable hesitance to confirm his race.

That clearly wasn't like him. If there was one prominent trait which Nabiki had learnt about Yusuke in this past month it was that he was blunt and to the point. He was rarely one to beat around the bush and even when he did; it was usually to mess with people.

So seeing him hesitate to admit he was human, even for just a measly few seconds, had Nabiki's mind wandering of the possibility that maybe Yusuke was part of a different race entirely. But then again, if he wasn't human then just what was he?

"I do," Yusuke mumbled with a sigh, eyes roaming around the room before stopping on a set of Chester-draws. Smirking a little to himself, Yusuke marched right over to the Chester-draws to search its confines.

"Window shopping, is it?" Nabiki quipped, giving Yusuke a smirk as she observed him rummaging through old man Saotome's drawers.

"Fuck naw," Yusuke grimaced at the thought of wearing anything Genma had worn beforehand, "Just a minute." He took him three drawers, but Yusuke finally found what he was looking for in the middle drawer, "Good. Looks like Lard-ass weren't bullshitting me when he said the scroll was in his Chester-draws," Yusuke smirked, pulling out a scroll, "This'll come in handy sometime."

"Your negotiation skills never cease to amaze me," Nabiki said dryly.

"Yeah." Yusuke eyed her, "You sound like you knew about Lard-ass teaming up with Midget-geezer to tag team Ryo."

Nabiki shrugged, "I got the info out of little sis this morning. Apparently, she's been up all night worried about her 'man'."

"Well that figures," Yusuke said, spinning the scroll containing the know-how to gaining the Umi-Sen Ken skilfully on his index finger, looking like a kid who had just received a new toy, "But 'till, I wonder what possessed those old coots to scrap with Ryo like their lives depended on it."

"Didn't he tell you?" Nabiki asked incredulously.

"Meh. Couldn't really be bothered with the 'why' you know, especially with Ryo in such a fucked-up state. So I figured I should bring his injured ass here first then get the 'why' Lard-ass and Midget-geezer fought him so viciously, tho when I showed up to bail his ass outta hot water, I only sensed Lard-ass, so clearly Ryo had managed to beat Midget-geezer on his own," Yusuke explained, levelling Nabiki with a curious glance.

"Why you ask anyway? You know why those motherfuckers were tussling it out with Ryo, Nabs?" Yusuke enquired.

How Nabiki would love to say, "that's going to cost you," but when Yusuke Urameshi asked you a question it was in your best interest to fork over the information without trying to bribe him, "From what I could gather from little sis, the old fools wanted a magic mirror the little one possessed to summon some ludicrously strong overlord to defeat and possibly kill _you_, boss."

The birds chirping in the distance became the prominent sound with the eerily silence which settled in the room that employee and boss just so happened to be occupying at right this very moment.

"…"

"…"

"Are you shitting me right now?"

"Yes, because I _so_ wanted to release my bowels on you, boss."

Ugh, sarcasm in a time as dire as this?

Wonderful.

XxX

(Genkai's temple – Living room – With Genkai – Ranma - Yukina)

XxX

Ranma Saotome – Former Heir to the Anything School of Martial Arts – was used to many things. Taking the blame for stuff he never did? Get out of here. That was a daily occurrence for him before Yusuke not only walked into his life but also changed it for the better.

So as one could imagine that was a cakewalk for him. What about loud, obnoxious voices? Well, having lived with Akane for three months he had developed a technique which enabled him to put on invisible headphones over his ears to tune out the volume.

He was even used to… *ahem* mentally unstable retarded people showing up out of nowhere to harass him on a consistent basis, whether it was to attempt to slay him or to marry him in either his boy form or girl form.

Yes, Ranma Saotome had taken a lot of crap throughout his messed-up life, but out of all the crap which he had taken with a grain of salt there was one that he took more than others, one to this day which he was still taking now…

…A beating.

His good friend Yusuke never understood why Ranma felt so… inclined to let everyone whale on him. It was mostly the girls, but if Ranma was feeling _really _submissive he would allow the crazy men to beat on him too, like Pops, Kuno, and Ryoga.

Now that Ranma thought back to the amount of times that he had let these people beat on him he realized just how truly _pathetic _he was. True enough he may have been stronger than them but so was Yusuke – by _far_. Yusuke was million miles ahead of Ranma in terms of strength and he _didn't_ let Ranma beat on him, even when he did feel guilty for what he had done to Ranma, or to Ranma's 'annoyance', his Red.

Despite the fact Yusuke never got what he had coming to him Ranma had all but forgiven him anyway for any crap he pulled on him/her. So now that begged the question – did Ranma really have to let people knock him out to get their forgiveness?

Like Yusuke had shown, there were other ways to redemption then just letting an enraged psycho whale on him.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow! Granny, stop! I-It w-wasn't my fault oh-okay!" Ranma excused desperately, getting slapped repeatedly over the head by Genkai while a worried Yukina sat next to Ranma on her knees, holding up her hands in a placating gesture.

Well, this one time was an exception.

Genkai _was _more of a parent-figure than Genma – or in Yusuke's case, _Lard-ass – _ever was.

"Do you need to watch this again to drill the message into that thick skull of yours, Dimwit?" Genkai said sternly, pointing to the paused television displaying a scene of a thoroughly ruined canal.

Ranma nursed her aching head, "Hey, that wasn't me tho, Granny! Pig-boy musta done it! He was throwing down too as well you know!" She said defensively, getting slapped again, "Ouch! What did I do now?"

"Fool! I don't care if another nitwit anticipated in your demolition competition when the fact of the matter remains, you were there and fought, which means _you_ can partly be held responsible for the damage that had been caused," Genkai scolded.

Ranma waved her arms about frantically, "B-But I had to, Granny! Sachi was so all over my ass, I hardly even had a chance to breath!" Ranma defended, receiving another backhand across her face, "Damn i-." A stern glare from the diminutive pink-haired senior citizen silenced the girl.

"Firstly, you're gonna watch that mouth of yours, she-boy," Ranma pouted at the reference of her confused case of gender identity, "Secondly, you _had _a choice. Dimwit one specifically left you in his apartment because he had no time for children's games. You could've just come back here to avoid wherever nonsense you got yourself caught up in. But no, you let your ego get the better of you, as your injured state would kindly vouch for you."

With her cheek filling up to resemble a balloon quite adorably, Ranma crossed her arms over her chest, "Stupid Yu-chan! Ratting me out like that!" Yukina smiled sheepishly at her friend, while a sudden thought hit Ranma like a bolt of lightning, "Hey, wait just a cotton picking minute! I wasn't the only one 'demolishing' the town Granny; Pig-boy also had a part in that 'contest'! Shouldn't he also get an ear-full then?"

"No-!"

A frown decorated Yukina's features upon seeing her friend flinch, close her eyes, hold up her hands in a defensive motion, and turn her head away from Genkai as if she was expecting to be spanked again by the strict old-fashioned lady. It made Yukina contemplate was Ranma abused _that _much to the point _she _expected it from anyone who was mad at her.

Shaking her head, Yukina gently tapped Ranma on her shoulder, getting her to open her eyes with a look of curiosity on her face. Her only answer would be the motion of Yukina's finger telling the redhead to look straight ahead.

Ranma did, sure enough, and found Genkai staring patiently, yet firmly at her, both her arms folded neatly behind her back.

Ranma blinked.

She wasn't being beaten on anymore?

"I've already told Yusuke to deal with his brat regarding the destruction of the canal and a park in his neighbourhood," Genkai said, her tone now calm as she merely resumed with her lecture despite the delay, "Regardless of his state of mind, the nitwit should not be causing that much property damage. He should consider himself lucky that was a clear robot he destroyed; otherwise he would've found himself in trouble with the law."

Yukina's hand went up into the air as if she was in school, getting Ranma's attention and a nod from Genkai giving her the okay to speak up, "Genkai-san, if I may."

"Go on." Genkai allowed.

"Don't you think you're being a little… harsh on Ranma-chan?" Yukina carefully asked, earning herself a bright smile from Ranma, "While I don't condone her actions for acceptance, she had to take some form of self-defence otherwise we would've lost her."

"See! That's exactly what I was trying to say!" Ranma exclaimed excitedly, "Thanks, Yukina-chan! I knew I could count on ya! You're the best!" Ranma chirped brightly, cheerfully swinging both of her arms around Yukina's neck in a show of sibling-like love, happily rubbing her cheek against Yukina's.

The green-haired, crimson eyed lady returned the affection with a light pat on Ranma's back and a tiny, sheepish smile.

"You make a valid point, child," Genkai admitted, her tone a soft mild one, "Exactly the one I was trying to make," Ranma stopped hugging Yukina to give Genkai a blinking glance of confusion, "While I do understand you fought as an act of self-defence, the reason why you were forced to make that decision in the first place was because you wanted in on whatever Dimwit one was doing and when he told you 'no' you decided to try and follow him anyway to coax your own ego."

"But Granny-."

"Let me finish," Genkai said in a commanding tone of voice. Ranma yelped, zipping her lips shut speedily, "Now, did you ever take into consideration how your death would affect Yukina and myself when you rushed off to meet up with Dimwit one?"

Raising one index finger up, Ranma opened her mouth to say how she did think about the despair her death would bring her grandmother-figure and close friend when Sachiko had her on the ropes, but flopped it shut when she realized she had only thought of showing her crush she was just as good as him when she first headed out to try and catch up to him.

Turning her head to look Yukina in the eyes, Ranma got a firm, silent nod of the head to the answer of her unspoken question.

Ranma felt terrible now.

"No," Ranma confessed in a murmur, the lowering of her head caused Yukina's bloodshot eyes to fill with pity for her normally bubbly friend, "I g-guess, I-I didn't, Granny," Her voice was beginning to break. But when a supportive hug fell on her shoulder, the redhead shot her head up and to her left to see the green-haired lady's comforting smile, "Yukina-chan?"

"It's okay," Yukina assured in a soft tone of voice, giving Ranma's shoulder a light squeeze of reassurance with her hand.

A minuscule smile tugged on the edges of Ranma's lips at the forgiving hint she could sense in Yukina's voice, "Thanks," She patted her friend's hand, "I needed that."

"It's what friends are for," Yukina elucidated. Ranma's smile widened at the confirmation. She had a friend, a true honest-to-god companion, not a fiancée only wanting to force her hand in marriage. A friend, and one who she wouldn't have to lose her self-respect in order to earn her forgiveness.

It was comforting.

"Yeah." Ranma said breathlessly, a soft smile on her face.

"You can't just be a cocky kid anymore," Genkai continued to school Ranma, bringing the cursed martial artist's attention back onto her. Only now when Ranma looked at her, she was fully immersed in Genkai's words, "Because every decision you make will affect the countless people who care about you in one way, or the other."

"Granny," Ranma whispered, but Genkai's straight, serious face never yielded, not for a moment. It held true. Her lecture really held a lot of weight and really got to Ranma who lowered her eyes to her lap, 'Gee. It's feels kinda weird getting lectured for fighting tooth-and-nail.'

No one else had ever done that. Not Genma, not Mr Tendo, not Nabiki, not Akane, and not even Kasumi, though the matriarch of the Tendo Dojo tended to sway from any war-fairs, even when she was in the thick of things, involuntarily. The closest thing Ranma got to castigating was Mr Tendo throwing her butt out, and the reason she wasn't allowed in the Tendo Dojo for a considerable amount of time usually revolved around Akane.

Ranma never received a lecture regarding her dangering her own wellbeing either by running the risk of putting herself in jail or recklessly throwing her life on the line to satisfy her own ego.

It made Ranma think, did those at the Tendo Dojo_ really_ care for her or did they just see her as a means to an end - that end being her marrying Akane to carry on the Tendo Dojo.

"I think…" Ranma paused, lifting up her head when she felt she had smoothed her features enough to give Granny a look of determination, "-I understand. Thanks, Granny. I'll try and keep my neck outta the deep ends of the woods, if I can help it." For a few moments, Genkai recommenced with her stern scrutinizing gaze of Ranma's hardened mask of diligence.

Then, Genkai huffed dismissively, contemptuously turning her head away from Ranma.

"You better, brat," Genkai warned, her tone returning to its typical harsh tone of voice. The pink-haired sensei's disciple recoiled with a dumbfounded look on her face, complete with blinking bright blue eyes at how quick the heart-warming moment had ended.

Normal service had resumed.

Genkai switched her head back to Ranma, ignored her petulant sulky expression, and strolled towards her, "I haven't made any plans to visit one of my wet-behind-the-ears 'grandchildren' in the state penitentiary or attending her funeral," While Ranma looked confusedly at Genkai, the woman herself brought one of her hands up from behind her back in a two-fingered salute, and uttered a small chant, "Hands."

"Oh-kayyyyy," Ranma obeyed with an awkward blink of her eyes, slowly giving her hands to Genkai, "So are ya goin' ta put the Ki-cuffs back on me, Granny."

"Something like that, child," Genkai cryptically said, dabbing her two fingers from Ranma's left hand, all the way to her right hand, just like she did when she had first put the Spirit Cuffs on her. Only the last time Ranma had the Spirit Cuffs placed on her a golden-light took on the form of cuffs, this time a red, devilish light took on the form of prison shackles.

"What the-!" Widening her eyes, Ranma plummeted to the ground as if a boulder was thrown over her back, eliciting a concerned expression to appear on Yukina's face.

"Ranma-chan!" Yukina fretted, clapping her hands in a show of worry.

"W-What is this?" Ranma asked in a mixture of horror and fury, struggling to pick herself up off of the floor either by her lack of strength or her lack of hands, "I feel so-." Her head was spinning so much the redhead squinted her eyes in an attempt to soothe her aching headache, "I feel as light as a feather, but as jumbo-sized as frickin' hippo! Granny, what the heck's happening ta me?"

Granny just mildly ambled behind Ranma, touching her left foot before dragging the same finger over to her right foot. The same ring appeared around Ranma's now entrapped left ankle before following Genkai's finger over to Ranma's other ankle, leaving a red stream in the centre between her ankles.

"That's just your apparent amount of power sealed within these cuffs weighing you down. The last time you had the Spirit Cuffs on you had far less power to seal off, hence you got use to the increasing heavy amount of reiki sealed off. These cuffs are just a slightly different method," Genkai explained, making Yukina nod understandingly.

"Okay," Yukina said, politely standing up to her feet with her hands held below her waist, "I'll go get you some more wristbands," She said helpfully, jogging with haste out of the door.

"Aw, man. This sucks," Ranma moaned despondently, scraping for all she was worth to get up into a sitting position. Eventually, Ranma managed to rise up on her knees, giving the stony-faced old lady a glare, "Why do I gotta wear the energy-sentencing-shackles again fer anyway, Granny? Shouldn't once be enough?"

"Hush, brat!" Genkai ordered, getting her desired reaction out of Ranma with a yelp from the girl. Genkai liked Dimwit two much better than the original Dimwit. She was much more obedient than Yusuke ever was, "Did you think there wasn't going to be any consequences to the actions you have taken?" The pink-haired lady questioned rhetorically, "Consider this a punishment of yours, to teach you there's a risk to every action you take of coming back to bite you where the sun doesn't shine."

"This 'till blows," Ranma sulked, catching sight of a smiling Yukina pacing back into the room holding two sets of pink wristbands.

"I got the wristbands for you, Ranma-chan," Yukina said, though her smile dropped off of her face as she held up the colourful wristbands, much to Ranma's dismay. The green-haired lady looked apologetic, "But we only had the pink ones left. I'm sorry."

"Okay, whatever. They'll do," Ranma said in a bored manner, now just wanting to separate her hands and feet. Yukina nodded, beginning to clad Ranma's left wrist, "Thanks, Yukina-chan."

"Now that's taken care of, I'm heading out to buy myself a pack of cigarettes," Genkai declared in her usual cranky manner, folding her arms behind her back and pivoting on her heels to walk out of the room, "You juvenile delinquents are going to be the death of this old woman someday."

"What's wrong, Granny? Feeling a bit on the 'gone off' side?" Ranma teased cheekily, weirdly grinning like a Cheshire cat while Yukina was just about done putting on the last wristband on Ranma's left ankle.

"Cheeky," Genkai's grouchy voice rang out throughout the air, though Ranma couldn't help but beam upon picking up on the tiniest bit of affection in Genkai's voice.

"I think I'm rubbing off on the old hag!" Ranma grinned mischievously, looking proud. She held up a hand, but folded her remaining fingers down, leaving only her index and middle fingers up to form a 'peace' sign, "Deuces, Granny!"

Yukina sighed with a smile on her face, "While that could've gone better, I do think you should consider yourself lucky you hadn't come off worst for wear. Just…" Yukina paused, trying not to come off as too _stern_. Her friend already had enough of that for one day, "-Just promise me you'll be more careful in the near future should you get in any more fights, Ranma-chan. Okay?"

Ranma blinked. She knew she had messed up when Yukina of all people was looking stern, even only on a minuscule level. She'd definitely have to avoid any unnecessary fights in the near future. That was, if her fighting instincts didn't carry her off to one first, "Aw, don't worry 'bout me, Yukina-chan! I'll choose my battles… wisely," Ranma let out a wry chuckle that got Yukina to sigh and shake her head from side to side.

"Anyway, I gotta get my butt back ta training!" Ranma smirked, "I'm one step closer ta reaching Yu-chan's level I can practically tas-."

"No training!"

Genkai's loud, harsh commanding voice echoed throughout the temple.

"W-What?"

"You heard me. That's another one of your punishments!"

"But that's not fair tho, Granny!" Ranma whined petulantly, "You can't just keep slapping on punishments like that!"

"And who says I can't. If you remember, I don't recall ever telling you having most of your reiki unavailable to you was your one and only punishment, just_ a_ punishment, brat! Get it right!"

"Aww!"

"Well, think of it this way," Yukina offered, sympathetically patting Ranma on her shoulder as she tried to offer the redhead an brighter, alternative option, "We could do other things together, like see a movie or attend one of those fun-fairs."

"Yeah. I guess that's true," Ranma said with a hungry grin, "In fact I think I'm getting a craving for ic-."

"You're grounded too, Dimwit!"

"…"

"S'cuse me?"

"I meant it, brat!"

"WHAT?" Yukina smiled sheepishly at her friend's flabbergasted expression. How dare that old bag of bones separate Ranma from her delicious ice cream! Didn't she know taking away a girl's ice cream was like robbing a bank? "Okay, I hope Granny knows this means war now," The redhead declared, smacking her fist into her palm. Mutiny was in order now.

"I really don't think it's a good idea to go against Genkai-san, Ranma-chan," Yukina murmured.

Ranma confidently waved off her concerns, standing up to her feet with a thumb jerked towards herself, "Don't sweat! I know what I'm doing!" Ranma smirked, marching towards the entrance of the living room, "Just watch me!" Watch her move out of the living room did the red-eyed lady do, mumbling discouragingly to herself the whole time.

"Oh. I don't like the looks of this."

Naturally, the fiery redhead was oblivious to Yukina's last comment being that not all of her senses were superhuman. Not to mention she was already immersed in her plan to take action against this totally harsh, unfair punishment, "Granny musta lost her darn mind, grounding me like that!" She muttered, reaching her destination in the form of a door.

The rebellious Saotome immediately gripped the doorknob, "Sentence me ta my room, will she? Well, I'll show her! I'm gonna go ta the shop like 'what'! Ha! Then I'll be like, 'I just stepped outta the pad, what now Granny? Haha'!" Ranma laughed tauntingly. Taking a moment to calm herself down, Ranma still couldn't help but snicker in a mischievous fashion as she swung open the door.

…Only to stop dead in her tracks at the sight of the last person she wanted to see at right that moment standing a few feet away from her with her arms clamped at her sides.

"O-Oh. H-Hey, Granny, fancy seeing you… here. I-I was just cracking open a door for a little fre-."

With a slow, but purposeful marching stride forward, Genkai soon broke into a full-on sprint towards her disciple who shot out her arms with a panicked expression on her face.

"W-Whoa! Granny, hold on! L-Let's talk 'bout this, oh-kay!"

Talk? Yeah. The redhead and Genkai talked alright. If you consider a direct flying kick in Ranma's mouth a nice way to start a civil conversation, then yeah, _they _had a real smashing discussion. One that saw Ranma flopped on the floor with her arms and legs flailing upwards like jelly, Genkai landing gracefully on her feet.

"Dimwit! Did you think I was just talking for the fun of it when I said you were grounded? I meant it! Now get back to your room! And If I so much as catch you doing any semblance of training little missy, then there will be hell to pay!"

Nodding to herself after her no-nonsense approach was complete; Genkai folded her arms behind her back and walked out of the door, calmly closing it behind her. The pink-haired senior citizen would completely miss the strained, yet determined look on Ranma's face as she pushed herself up on her elbows.

"Yeah. We'll just see 'bout that, you old hag!"

XxX

(Tendo Dojo – Living room – Yusuke)

XxX

"Alright." Yusuke started, arms folded over his chest from his position leaned coolly against the wall, his right back-heel also cocked up against the wall.

Before he'd continue with what he was doing he would closely examine the expressions of those sitting around the living room. The now bandaged up Ryoga had a bitter, frustrated one on his face.

His injured girlfriend - former heirless of the Tendo School of Anything Goes Martial Arts – Akane, had a very concerned air about her, looking remarkably apprehensive with her arms clutched around Ryoga's.

Soun – Current Master of the Tendo School of Anything Goes Martial Arts – looked completely paled, nervous, and jittery, almost as if he couldn't sit still for five minutes alone. Still, above all else, his movement spoke of fear.

Meh. No surprise there.

Nabiki tried to play the tough girl, but Yusuke knew it was all an act. She sat in front of the television resting on her side with her palm supporting her head. She did a good job at keeping her outward emotions under control, but unfortunately Yusuke could still sense her inward emotions. They spoke of anxiety, distress, and anger.

In fact the only one who didn't have an active response to the whole situation was Kasumi who sat on the other side of Ryoga after helping her sister bandage him up with a bland, blank expression on her face.

Kasumi probably didn't even know how to react to such a situation.

Fucking Soun!

"-Wanna run that by me again?" Excluding Kasumi, everyone pancaked themselves into the tiled flooring of the living room at Yusuke's question. What made it more jarring was that Yusuke didn't even have a smirk or any kind of emotional expression on his face.

"Urameshi-san!" Akane whined.

Yusuke levelled her with a neutral gaze, "S'up?" He yawned as if he held the potential crisis in contempt. "What's on your mind, squirt?"

Akane pouted at the half-demon at the reference regarding their ages. Honestly. She wasn't that _much _younger than him! Urameshi-san was just being a big stupid jerk like he always was to her, ugh! "Ryoga-kun's already told you, ugh! What more could you possibly want to know?"

Yusuke offered the fuming youngest Tendo a shrug, "Meh. Then put it down to Goosebumps."

Akane's expression fell, leaving a blank one of utter shock, "Eh?!" That sounded Urameshi-san was excited for this apparent bad-guy's arrival, "W-What are you saying?"

"What I'm saying is…" Yusuke stalled, taking a moment to record the disbelieving expressions of Ryoga, Akane, Soun, and even Nabiki, a small smirk slowly forming across his face, "-I could get an invaluable henchman to help me in my one true mission!" His voice took on a booming, menacing growl most fitting for a demonic being of immense power, striking fear within Ryoga's, Akane's, Soun's, and Nabiki's hearts.

"S-Sensei-." Ryoga stuttered in fear at the disturbed, insane gleam he could see in Yusuke's eyes, "T-This i-is j-just a-all a joke, isn it, sensei? You don't really want to bring the apocalypse to the earth, right?"

"Silence you puny mortal!" Yusuke boomed authoritatively, making even Nabiki flinch as well as everybody else. His own actual flunkey flipped over from her disinterested position to look at him with wide, extended eyes of clear fear.

"B-Boss," Nabiki whispered, too quietly for anyone to hear, "What's happening to you?" He was turning into one of those generic villains often seen in the world of DC and marvel.

"L-Lad," Soun stammered, holding up his hands in a placating gesture, "L-Let's s-stop w-with the shenanigan, what do you say?" Soun pleaded with a remarkably strained chirpy and disarming smile. His fear heightened upon seeing Yusuke's devilish smile widen, complete with his shining wolf-teeth showing, "A-After a-all w-we've k-known y-you for some time now, r-remember? W-Why, I t-thought we were all beginning to form some sense of companionship."

"Thanks, weakling, but I don't need something as worthless as _friendship! _That useless shit you see in Fairy _Fail." _He grimaced at the thought of such a fail series, before giving his terrified audience a particularly wicked wolf-fanged grin,_ "_No, for what I desire is ending the world, and everyone in it!"

"S-Sensei?" Ryoga stuttered, looking like he was on the verge of tears. How could the one and only man to ever see him more than a raging moron blaming others for his own mistakes or a small, helpless black piglet be so evil? 'Damn it! What's going on? This can't be my sensei? The same man who was so kind to me!' Ryoga scrunched up his face in sad frustration, "No, not you, sensei..."

"I can't believe you!" Akane raged, snapping Ryoga out of his funk, "You were just pretending to be the good-guy to get close to us, weren't you! How could you?" She screeched, tears filling her own eyes, "Ryoga-kun trusted you! Ranma-idiot trusted yo-." That train of thought made her gasp, "Ranma! What have you done to him?"

Yusuke let out a merciless snigger, "Hehehe! You got it! Red didn't even know what she had coming to her, but you know what? I betcha she enjoyed it just as much as I did, 'cause I'm Yusuke! Lord of Evil! Hahahahhahahahhaha!" Yusuke bellowed, "WORLD ANNIHILATION!"

The reactions vastly differed from those who had witnessed Yusuke's declaration of ending the world. Akane glared, hurt and betrayal in her eyes, Ryoga and Soun winced loudly, and Kasumi just watched Yusuke's over-the-top display with a blank look on her face.

Then there was Nabiki. She didn't want to know how this played out, made evident by the fact she leaped up to her feet and made a clear break for the porch, jumping over the table as if she was on the Olympics-team.

What happened next could pretty much be related to how a clock worked. One moment Yusuke was cackling hysterically, and in the very next moment his expression went anti-clockwise. He pinched at his cheeks, stretching them out, sticking his tongue out, and positioning himself in an outrageous running pose.

"Sikeeeeeee!" Nabiki froze inches away from the porch, and her breath hitched in her throat as did everyone who weren't named Kasumi, "DAY-UM! You guys are gullible! Haha!" That mocking laughter was their cue to once again pancake themselves into the tiled flooring of the living room.

Yusuke had punk'd them.

"What the hell?" Akane was the first to recover, "You made us think you had gone insane Urameshi-san? How could you do that?"

"Hell must have frozen over, because for once, I'm _literally _on the same page as little sis," The attention of everyone was fixated on Nabiki. It was quite a rarity to see Nabiki's face distorted in a mask of anger. At best one would just see mild annoyance on her face, not outright fury, "What the hell were you thinking?"

"Aw, did my act scare my little Nabs shitless?" Yusuke taunted jokingly, causing a curious, blinking eyed expression to appear on Akane's face who quickly turned her head to survey Nabiki's reaction. To those not named Akane, Kasumi, or Soun would have most likely missed the small, but noticeable shy movement the middle Tendo sibling did with a light flush on her cheeks.

'Is Nabiki falling for Urameshi-san?' Akane asked herself, watching her sister cough twice into her fist to regain her composure.

"Well, yes," Nabiki said coolly, her eyes returning to their usual uninterested half-lidded position, "Just not in the way you're thinking."

"Course. You wasn't trying to hightail it outta here on a one-way course to the boys-in-white, right?" Yusuke said sarcastically.

Despite the fact that Nabiki really wanted to glare at Yusuke, she managed to resist the urge. Instead, she clapped her hands together with a false chirpy smile on her features, "That's precisely the point, boss! Where else would I have gone with a deranged nutter on the loose?" Nabiki asked, "Besides another country."

"Of course." Yusuke mumbled condescendingly.

"Sooooo," Ryoga started, rubbing the back of his head in a nervous manner, gulping a little with his master's blinking gaze locked on him now, "Y-You're not gonna use that dirty old man's mirror to bring back a monster to work with you, sensei?"

Yusuke stared at him as if he was stupid, earning himself a fierce angry stare from Akane for his ludicrous disbelieving expression aimed at her Ryoga-kun, "Naw, course not. I was just messing with ya, champ," Yusuke elucidated.

Ryoga and Soun each breathed collective sighs of relief, "Phew. Thank _God_ for that." Ryoga said, smiling in an uneasy manner at his sensei, "You had me scared yellow there for a minute, sensei. I can't even touch you when I'm not beaten up, I don't know how I would've defeated you had you really been evil… err, _sir,_" He squeaked hastily.

Yusuke grinned in a knowing manner, "You wouldn't have." He blurted out in a patronizing manner. Ryoga cringed and Akane scowled at Yusuke's bluntness, "Tho," He idly scratched his cheek, "I didn't think I was that convincing."

"Well you were!" Akane grumped.

Yusuke just stared blankly at her for a few seconds, then turned an earnest inquisitive gaze on the sensible one of the group, and the calmest of them all, Kasumi, "Hey, what about you, Kasumi? You didn't think I was evil, did'ya?"

Kasumi blinked, pointing questionably to herself, looking surprised someone had actually pulled her into the conversation at all. When she lipped the word, 'me', Yusuke couldn't resist the urge to guffaw at her.

"Course. Did you think I was talking to the maid?" Yusuke joked, earning himself a glare from Akane and a wince from Soun.

'Say, the lad couldn't be thinking I have to… *gulp* help out more around the house,' Soun contemplated, smiling exceedingly nervous to himself. He absolutely dreaded the idea of picking up a broom and sweeping up the Dojo, much less doing something as easy as taking out the garbage, 'N-No, of course not. I'm just being silly,' Soun forced a chirpy smile on his face that did not go unmissed by Yusuke.

Kasumi smiled, "Oh don't be silly," She lightly admonished, gently caressing her chin with her index finger, humming contemplatively for a few moments. Even for someone as polite as her, she couldn't help but giggle. Urameshi-kun's entire act was just too humorous in of itself.

"What? What's so funny, oneesama?" Akane asked, curious. She was not alone in this regard. Everyone – excluding Yusuke – blinked bizarrely at the oldest Tendo sibling. If they didn't know any better it almost looked as if her gigging was turning into laughter.

Kasumi managed to strife her giggles, "Oh my, I'm very sorry, it's just…" She giggled, holding a hand to her mouth while Akane looked on in confusion at her, "Urameshi-kun's just so funny, little sister."

Akane, Soun, and Ryoga shared equally befuddled looks with each other, silently telling the other they didn't know what Kasumi found so hilarious about Yusuke. The puzzled trio glanced towards the smartest member of the family in Nabiki for answers, but the brains of the operation only shook her head with a shrug.

"Yes, do look at me since I'm the one with the answers," Nabiki said. Akane nodded, understanding the sarcasm before looking back at Kasumi.

"What do you mean by that, Kasumi-oneesama?" Akane asked curiously, stealing a glance at Yusuke to find the man smirking proudly. She rolled her eyes at the similarity he shared with Ranma. No wonder the two hit it off.

"Oh imouto," Kasumi said lightly, as if sympathizing with her precious little sister, "Urameshi-kun wasn't trying to be serious, he was only trying to lighten the tense mood which had befallen us from the revelation of what Uncle Saotome and Grandpa Happosai were trying to achieve with an over-the-top performance."

A pair of identical looks of realization appeared on Ryoga's and Soun's faces, whom both took inhales to emphasize their discoveries.

"Really, Kasumi-oneesama?" Akane further asked for clarification in her same polite tone of voice.

"Really," Kasumi nodded empathetically, still keeping her tone airy.

Akane looked back at Yusuke, secretly glad to see his neutral, cool expression back on his face, instead of his overbearing, prideful one, "What have you got to say about this, buster?" She asked harshly.

"Yeah. Sure." Yusuke dismissed, his expression of a half-lidded, bored one, "Let's just go with that." Akane pouted at him.

"I-I s-say, n-now t-that I-I t-think about it, Urameshi-kun's little act was actually rather humorous now that I think about it," Soun stated in an edgy, tentative manner, wincing when Yusuke fixed him with his impassive stare. Akane growled at her father for his cowardice, "Why, y-you might do well as a stand-up comedian!" He tried to compliment in a chirpy tone, tugging on the ends of his collar.

"Hm." Yusuke grunted, sounding cryptic to Soun who fidgety awaited Yusuke's response with a hard swallow, "Let it be known the new Eddie Murphy's in the house."

Soun took the young man's sarcastic witty comment as a sign that he was satisfied with his compliment, and breathed a sigh of relief, "Oh thank goodness."

Akane scowled, 'Honestly, papa! You're such a coward!'

"Sooooo," Ryoga said, trying not to fidget since even the slightest movement in his injured state was painful, "About the mirr-."

"Destroy it."

"Eh?" Akane and Ryoga both dumbly said at Yusuke's quick resolution to their dilemma.

"Did I stutter?" Yusuke asked rhetorically, "You heard right. Get rid of it. If this dude who Lard-ass and Midget-geezer are thriving to bring back is really worth the level of hype their giving him then the logical thing to do is to cut off any means of entrance for anyone pussy-hole who wants to get his ass here. Am I right?" Nabiki nodded at her boss' logical, simple means to resolve this dilemma.

"That's not it!" Akane bellowed, making Yusuke massage the side of his head in annoyance, "It's just-." The youngest Tendo paused, an wistful expression falling over her face at the thought of the pigtailed martial artist, "I just thought you'd react differently, is all!"

"How you figure?" Yusuke asked, levelling Akane with an odd, deadpanned look, "That I would go, 'Eh? An uber powerful bad guy who could potentially whoop my ass, and bring about catastrophic devastation to the earth! Pfft, please! I'm on a next level. Let dis old ass ancestor come then! I'll whoop his candy ass back to the past! Easy'," Yusuke snorted, giving the girl a disgusted look of annoyance, "I ain't a retard."

If it was appropriate, Akane would've brought up Yusuke's and Ranma's similarities as her argument for why she figured the usual green-clad - self-proclaimed Big Cheese - rude boy would simply turn his head away in disgust at the rumour that an ancient overlord could destroy him, not offer the smart solution to the problem, but she wisely decided against it.

After all just because Ranma and Yusuke were somewhat alike didn't mean they would react exactly the same given any circumstance. Ranma could, for all intents-and-purposes, be passed off as Yusuke's little brother, (or sister in Yusuke's case), but that still didn't mean he was by any means a Yusuke-clone.

"Well I just thought you might is all," Akane mumbled, feeling a little ashamed of herself.

Yusuke had no pity for her, "Well then don't. Jumping the gun is basically jumping on a first-class ride down Fool's vale," When Akane glared at him, he returned it with an icy cold stare of his own, "Seriously, I ain't arrogant."

This time it was Yusuke's turn to be levelled with deadpan stares. Even Kasumi of all people gave him a slight flat gaze.

"Alright. Not _that_ arrogant. Damn." Yusuke winced, holding a palm to his forehead.

Kasumi sighed, gracing Yusuke with an apologetic smile, "Oh my, I think I better start cleaning up Grandpa Happosai's room," The soft-spoken demure lady stood up to her feet, "His magic mirror won't find itself, though I hope he won't be too upset with us for getting rid of it."

"Hm." Yusuke grunted, annoyed. Leave it to Kasumi to feel remorse for disposing of an old coot's device that could possibly bring about the end to the world, "About that," Kasumi stopped, looking at Yusuke with innocent curiosity, "Take five, Kasumi. Pansy-boy can do it!"

"W-What?" Soun gasped in exclamation.

"Pansy-boy, you heard me loud and clear. Don't play dumb with me, bitch!" Yusuke yelled in a threatening tone.

"Don't talk to my daddy like that!" Akane screeched, eliciting a sigh out of Ryoga.

Why couldn't everybody just get along now that Saotome was out of the picture? 'Oh, sensei; I hope you know what you're doing,' Ryoga mused in despondency.

"P-Perhaps I should do it, Urameshi-kun," Kasumi – the voice of reason - tried to offer in a small, forced relaxed tone, "Really, I don't mind. I was going to clean the house anyway. I can just add this to another one of my errands."

"Y-Yes, I agree! That would be the best option for everyone lad!" Soun hurried to agree.

Yusuke's nose wrinkled in disgust, "Naw, fuck that! You do too much anyway, Kasumi! Pansy-boy here just sits on his ass bitching about his Dojo going down the shit-drain 'cause Red ain't marrying Blindy!" Yusuke ranted, eliciting a gasp of realization from Akane while Soun shrank away from Yusuke, "You do something about it then! It's your fucking Dojo! Stop relying on Red! She doesn't wanna marry Blindy as much as Blindy doesn't want to tie the knot to her! She's happy with Ryo, get used to it!"

Even though Akane very much wanted to jump to her father's defence she couldn't help but smile lovingly at the injured teen sitting beside her, lightly giving his arm a squeeze of reassurance. Ryoga smiled shyly in return.

"He's… right, daddy," Soun winced at Akane's reluctant, timid confession. It wasn't that she was unhappy to admit Yusuke was right about her being happy with Ryoga, It was just _so_ hard to agree with Yusuke, "I'm happy with Ryoga-kun. He makes me happy, unlike that stupid perverted jerk Ranma-idiot!" As Akane declared this, her eyes never left Ryoga's, who stared right back at her in wonder.

"Oh Akane-dear!" Soun moaned despondently.

Yusuke would roll his eyes at Soun's histrionics, then began a marching stride in an intimidating fashion towards him.

"Lad, no!" Soun cowered, backing up. As if they could protect him from Yusuke's wrath, Soun raised his trembling hands, positioning them over his head as if they were to be a makeshift shield against the powerful young man heading his way.

"Don't lad me, bitch. Don't lad me," Yusuke growled warningly, increasing his pace to reach Soun who had crawled over to the dead-end that was the wall. Once he would near Soun, Yusuke would pluck out one of his arms, snatching Soun's neck before ruthlessly dragging him to his feet, "Just shut your fucking trap, get your ass to Midget-geezer's room, and find that damn mirror, otherwise _you're _gonna be missing both your front teeth! Do I make myself clear, motherfucker?"

Soun nodded his head hastily, struggling to breathe properly with his heartbeat pumping so rapidly. His sudden audible exhales would portray his difficulty to take in air, "Crystal!"

"Good!" Yusuke snarled, lifting Soun upwards, and shifting his gaze to the direction of the outside, "Now get to it!" With an effortless fling of his arm, Yusuke chucked Soun as easily as one would throw a soccer ball, sending the poor frightened man spiralling over to the porch in a twisting motion.

It was only by some miracle that Soun managed to land on his feet, even if he stumbled forward a few steps, before managing to regain his balance. Without wasting another second, Soun ghosted off upstairs.

Seeing this, Yusuke nodded his head with his arms crossed over his chest in a satisfied fashion.

"Urameshi-kun," Kasumi's small, disapproving voice made Yusuke look at her, "While I'm grateful you want to make things easier for myself, don't you think your treatment of Father was… well, extreme?"

"Yeah, Urameshi-san!" Akane was quick to agree with her older sister with a glare in Yusuke's direction, "You didn't have to be so mean to daddy!"

If he had the time and/or could be bothered, Yusuke would've offered Akane a sarcastic comment, but that would've aroused more controversy, and Yusuke just didn't have the time for that, "Whatever," So he settled for the bread-and-butter remark of all rude-teenagers, "A little work'll do him some good. Speaking of work I got a job to attend. Make sure to bin that mirror, will ya?" Yusuke said, walking towards the table where he placed the Umi-Sen Ken scroll, picking it up.

"Ryo, take a break from your training to heal up," Yusuke commanded, reminding Ryoga of the Umi-Sen Ken.

"Wait, Yusuke-sensei! What about the Umi-Sen Ken!?" Ryoga asked desperately, bitter frustration appearing on his features, much to Akane's worry, "Saotome could be training right now, laughing at me the whole time! I gotta get back to training right away or else I…" He trailed off, a pitiful expression now falling over his features.

"Oh Ryoga-kun…" Akane said softly.

"Don't worry your thick little _P _sized head about that!" Yusuke ordered, eliciting a wince from Ryoga at the reference to P-chan, "You ain't the only one who needs a little R&R. Red needs to recuperate from her ass-whooping too, you know," Ryoga's eyes went wide.

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Oh." Well this changed everything. "I sorta-kinda feel… okay about taking a little break from training now."

"Glad to see you see things my way," Yusuke smirked, strolling towards the porch with Nabiki following him, "Tho, if you really want to train so much then do a few rounds of deep meditation. Trust me on this one. It'll relax your mind. You'll need it if you want to master this bad-boy," Yusuke waved the scroll in the air.

"Oh. Then I'll do my best sensei!"

"Of course you will."

With that Yusuke strolled near the back-garden of the Tendo Dojo, and rounded a corner, with Nabiki following him. Unfortunately for the middle Tendo, her actions would not be missed by the youngest Tendo, whom had an innocent look of observation on her face.

"Huh? Nabiki?"

XxX

(With Yusuke and Nabiki)

XxX

"That was quite the performance you put on back there, boss," Nabiki said amusedly, a wry smile on her face as she and Yusuke ventured around another corner, nearing towards the front door.

"Meh." Yusuke continued to walk on towards the door, "Not really. What makes you think so, Nabs?"

Nabiki shrugged, "Not much. Just that no one's ever really called out daddy the way you did or insists on big sis doing too much for the family."

Yusuke would let out a snort when he would reach the door and grab the doorknob, "You don't say," He returned dryly, continuing on in the same sarcastic tone, "Because the writing just _so _wasn't painted all over the damn walls," He said moodily, almost pulling the door off its hinge when he aggressively pulled open the door.

"I know what you're going to say," Nabiki said with an self-assured smile on her face, watching her boss taking a few steps away from the door. He'd soon stop, turning his head over his shoulder to give Nabiki an expressionless, commanding stare.

"Humour me."

Nabiki would rise an index finger, then speak in a false chirpy, yet confident voice.

"You're going to say something around the lines of, we've gotten _too used _to relying on big sis to do our daily household chores, to the point where we would even 'ask' her to do the littlest things for us, like fetch one of us a drink." She gave Yusuke a satirical beaming smile. "Does that sound about right my oh-so fearless leader?" Yusuke made a sound indicating his annoyance with a pouty lip.

"Smart girl."

"Meh. I like to consider myself a good judge of character," Nabiki retorted evenly, leaning herself against the doorframe with her arms crossed over her chest.

"Then you're doing a mighty fine job at it," Yusuke mumbled. Regardless of whether he said it as an actual compliment or a taunt, Nabiki accepted it anyway, nodding her head, "So, if you don't mind, I think I'll be going."

Nabiki smiled, "Not at all, boss. I was merely checking if we're still on to bring in more money later on," The middle Tendo sibling almost face-palmed herself at how ironic that sounded. She would've never just given out her own flunkeys' tasks until they had to do it. They always knew.

"Yeah." Thankfully, Yusuke wasn't like her, made evident by the fact he was more than happy to put her fears to rest without using them for his own greedy gain, be it to make more money for himself, or to make a mockery out of her for his own amusement, "My shift finishes at nine o'clock. Come by any time by then or… well, you know, on the dot. It's won't matter to me."

"Oh. We'll just have to see how my schedule plans out… _sir_," Nabiki said cryptically, her tone a sultry one, a flirtatious smile on her face.

"Sure." Yusuke smirked, turning his head away from Nabiki, "Whatever you decide," He raised up his arm and formed a scissors shape with his index and middle fingers, "Deuces," Nabiki returned his ghetto farewell with a fake pleasant parting of her own.

"Toodle-oo!"

XxX

(Happosai's room – with Soun)

XxX

Urameshi-kun...

Urameshi-kun...

Urameshi-kun...

Urameshi-kun...

His name rang out in his head like a deep, monstrous repeated recording, constantly reminding Soun of what needed to be done.

The Chief of the Tendo Dojo could barely breath, as he leaned against the sliding door inside of the room Grandmaster Happosai had once slept in once upon a time ago, a wonderful, far more happier time. Oh! Why did _he_ have to show up for? He had thrown Soun's and Genma's dream into jeopardy. Soun could honestly say he would've preferred it if Yusuke had never shown up to begin with. Sure the lad - Ranma - might have been weak from the master's pressure point attack, but at the very least he would be here preparing to marry his Akane.

It was an exceedingly startling realization for Soun to know how foolish he was, wanting to be rid of the ev-. No, _nice _master! He just didn't know! He just didn't know he could potentially end up with someone much worse than the master! He only wanted to do away with his cowardice. Was it so wrong to want to be someone his family could respect?

"Lad," Soun whispered with clenched teeth and fists. As Yusuke's arrogant statement that Ranma would not be marrying his Akane to carry on his school would echo out through his head, Soun would find his temper slowly increasing, "No, lad! Y-You d-don't understand!" He all but growled out. Phantom-Yusuke's hurtful taunts were pressing all the right buttons on Soun to make him explode, "Ranma's marrying my Akane and carrying on my school!" Soun raged, bellowing in an excessively self-assured manner. He quickly yelped, fearing those downstairs might have heard him.

He sighed in relief when he realized he was upstairs.

Besides, even if they did know the damage had already been set, "Saotome... I hope you know what you're doing," Soun said, calming himself down. He would walk into the centre of a thoroughly thrashed bedroom. It was like a tornado had hit here. Among the mountains of woman-underwear, one would find toys and the odd ancient treasure lying around, "Yes! What am I saying? Of course he does! This is Saotome I'm talking about here!" Soun chirped, nodding to himself, "Besides, the lad's clearly shown his true colours with his little... performance earlier, yes."

If that was the case then this world was in danger, his precious daughters were in grave danger. For all Soun knew that _fiend _could've already gotten his hands on his precious Akane-chan already!

Ah!

That would make sense considering the fact Akane had all but fallen into Ryoga's arms, "Waa! Oh Akane-dear!" Soun bawled exaggeratingly, covering his tears with his arm. He felt ashamed of himself for being unable to protect his daughter, but what could he do against such a powerful foe? Soun sniffed, "This Ganondorf-fellow really is not only my Akane's last hope but also the earth's!"

And Soun would do everything in his power to see to it that Ganondorf was brought to the present.

...So he could reunite Ranma's and Akane's dying relationship.

The Anything Goes School would not die out if Soun Tendo had anything to say about it.

* * *

><p><strong>And that's the chapter right there.<strong>

**Alright, for those of you who haven't played the Legend of Zelda games, you're probably admittedly confused like fuck by this Ganondorf-character. Rest assured, he isn't an OC. In fact he's one of the most overpowered villains Nintendo's ever created. He's destructive power is scaled from Multiple Continent level to Planet level on Vs battle wiki. Google him to see what he looks like if you're curious. **

**But, yeah. Ganondorf could honestly solo both the Ranma-verse and the YuYu Hakusho-verse on his own.**

**On another note what the fuck is going on in Naruto? I just got outta reading the latest chapter and I was even more gobsmacked then last week, and that right there says something, because I was really flabbergasted. How the fuck is Kishimoto gonna just spoon-feed Kakashi Madara-level of power? It makes no fucking sense! Obito can just come visit the living world because of his space-time jutsu and somehow give his sharingan to Kakashi? What the fuck?**

**Sheesh. It's turning into a comedyfest now.**

**On another, more relevant note, have you ever noticed how Yusuke and Ranma are in some ways the exact opposite of each other? Because I sure did. While Yusuke acted like a big man in his series, Ranma acted like a immature eight year old. I like that. Ranma's the day to Yusuke's night. Ranma's sweet and innocent and Yusuke's straight-up badass. **

**I just thought that was interesting. **

**Now, please. Don't forget to review for more chapters. I'm Thugs Bunny, and I'm signing off, peace and have a nice day. **


	15. In the Hands of the Devil!

**Disclaimer: I don't own YuYu Hakusho or Ranma 1/2.**

* * *

><p>A solemn cloud hung in the air, as six men wearing identical green suits stood on the edge of a massive burned-up crater stretching even further than the eye can see. It was moments like these that not only could they, but also every other non-evil human being could relate to feeling in some point in their lives. They allowed a moment of silence to pass as a silent tribute to their fallen brethren.<p>

"Oh, dear. This is quite the pickle we have here."

"Why can't the weather-forecasters ever be this right?"

"…Even the mountain of which the base stood on has been wiped out. It's as tactical as it is blatant. The perpetrators knew precisely what they wanted to accomplish and sought to leave nothing behind in their treacherous wake."

"…So, are they really gone, Gurubi, Emi, Sachiko, Tabemono, Kinnii and even the vice-chairman? We're really never going to see them all again?"

That unwelcomed remembrance killed the hateful vibe in the air and replaced it with one of despondency.

"Hmm," An old man droned contemplatively, "Gentlemen, today we of the Jusenkyo Preservation Society have suffered such a great tragedy here having lost so many of our comrades," He relayed, pausing momentarily as to allow that disheartening statement to really sink in to the remaining members of a once great society, "But we should never forget what those poor, unfortunate souls stood for, because if not for their brave stances it could have very well been us in their places. Please, I implore you all to honour their sacrifices."

The old man's heart-warming speech brought tears of pride and grief to his subordinates' eyes.

"You are as wise and knowledgeable as one would expect Mr Chairman," A middle-aged man with eyes eternally closed stated, "As I expect."

"Oh, stop," Even in the darkest of times, the light-hearted old man found it in him to chuckle embarrassingly, "I'm really not that great... at all."

"Still, what do we do now, Chairman?" Another male enquired.

"We obviously have multiple options."

"Just deciding on the correct course of action is the question here."

"I think it's quite obvious what we should do," The chairman said in an airy, almost buoyant tone, "Our comrades' imminent demises assures us another day of keeping this beautiful planet of ours pure. I think its most safe to assume our next course of action should be to properly hand out punishment to the lawbreakers for their roles in our comrades' deaths."

"But sir," A deep, almost commanding voice roared, "These scums killed everyone, even Kinnii," His light-skinned face scrunched up in bitter sadness, "I understand our role of balancers in the world, but… how can we realistically serve the culprits their comeuppances if our men couldn't?"

That was a very down-to-earth, logical question, as noted by the stiff nods of agreement he got from his fellow survivors. Kinnii was the company's top guy, the cream-of-the-crop, and even he was seemingly overwhelmed by the might of the perpetrators.

"Nonsense!" The chairman chirped, "We still have our trump card."

His subordinates blinked with clear incomprehension across their faces.

"And that would be again-."

"Why, none other than Kureiji-kun of course!"

Huh? Kureiji – as in the company's self-esteemed scientist. Sure he made that fancy, decently strong robot – Mr S - but as shown on the news, Mr S didn't live up to the hype. Mr S' power was nothing compared to Ayano's power alone and she was the weakest (link) of the company's top ten soldiers.

Even if the self-proclaimed mad-doctor could make an even more powerful cyborg so disgustingly overpowered its power could dwarf even Kinnii's by leaps-and-bounds in comparison, it shouldn't matter in the long run since the last place Kureiji was spotted was in the Jusenkyo Preservation Society's main building - which they just happened to be standing at the edge of the massive crater that proud building once preoccupied.

"Uhm. Forgive my rudeness, sir, but shouldn't Kureiji be, er-." It was hard to so blatantly state one of his comrades' deceased status, especially after the news many other of his comrades' imminent demises had only recently hit him and been sadly clarified.

"No," Through his amiable resonance of voice, there was still an odd undertone of conviction, "Kureiji-kun knows his limits. He would haven't dilly-dallied around while his comrades were risking their necks so he could escape," While the others looked at him with clear confusion on their faces, he just offered them a pleasant smile, before pivoting on his heels and ushering them along.

"Come along now, it would be rude of us to keep Kureiji waiting."

_XxX_

**The World's Strongest Man**

_C_

_H_

_A_

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_Fifteen_

**In the Hands of the Devil!**

_XxX_

Yusuke yawned, casually making his way to Good Burger to begin his shift dressed in a blue dress shirt not tucked within his white pants, a white boat-shaped hat on over his gelled-back black hair, a pair of black shoes fitted neatly over his feet, an old-fashioned sack-bag slung over his shoulder, and a nametag clipped onto his shirt pocket.

Though, for curiosity sake, he checked out the canal and the park Akane said his student had utterly destroyed.

She certainly wasn't saying that just to hype up her man either. From what Yusuke could see from what within arm's reach of the police tape blocking anyone off from venturing closer there were a ton of cracks all engraved around the sides, with the water looking like it had been drained out. And even that wasn't the end of the mass destruction! The surrounding walls of people's houses were completely blown to smithereens!

The cost of repairs to fix the damaged section would be outrageously high, and that wasn't even adding in the park-turned-wasteland.

All in all the construction-boys had their work cut out for them fixing these ones.

Maybe Yusuke should take Granny's advice about having a word with Ryoga?

Hm.

"Oh. Look at what the cat coughed up," Yusuke didn't even stop walking at the sound of Ukyo's composed voice. Instead, he merely glanced up with a disinterested look on his face to see the Okonomiyaki-chef coming out of a shop dressed in her usual attire.

Yusuke grunted, sparing the girl one last glance before continuing past her in contempt. Ukyo scowled, hastily dropping the garbage bag she happened to be carrying at the time before hurriedly locking her shop up, then pacing up to catch up with Yusuke, falling in stride with the young man with a glare in her eyes.

"You know you have some nerve showing your face around here after kidnapping my Ranchan," Ukyo said, hands threatening to grip the spatula sheathed on her back.

"Oh. Is that what you call a ride? A kidnapping?" Yusuke mocked, not being able to stop the smug grin which latched itself onto his face.

Ukyo exploded, "Don't screw with me, jackass! You know exactly what you were doing!"

"Did I?" Yusuke questioned rhetorically. His smug smile widened at Ukyo's firm nod of her head, "You got proof?"

"Really, sugar?" Ukyo probed, a dry, deadpan expression falling over her face. She unnecessary lifted up her hand, holding out all five fingers, "Well let's just list the options, shall we? One: You had your fiancée detract me so you could take Ranchan away to who knows where I don't even want to imagine where your filthy mind decided to take him to."

"Oh, bravo," Yusuke jovially mocked Ukyo with a sardonic applause of his hands, "How long did it take you to come up with that one?"

"I'm just laying out the facts," Ukyo said evenly, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Really, now?" Yusuke replied, feigning an inquisitive tone to his voice, "I did not know this," He practically relished the sight of Ukyo's scowling face, 'Priceless,' Yusuke thought smugly.

"Well you do now," Ukyo insisted, trying to keep her voice smooth, but this trolling jackass was making it difficult to stay calm. She wondered why her Ranchan would want to be friends with such a frustrating man. She had known him for all of a few hours, and already Ukyo wanted to strangle him to death.

The cross-dresser had to shake her head. He would get his in just a moment, "And there's also something else you should know," She patiently waited until the young man graced her with a languid look before winking secretively at him, "Sugar."

"Hm." Yusuke grunted flatly, "Let's hear it."

Ukyo felt a touch of annoyance crept into her the way Yusuke phrased his last line, as if he was dealing with a child. Well, she would show him.

"Oh, you really want to know?" She would gain a sly grin on her face when she would receive a cross glance out of the corner of Yusuke's brown orb, "Well, don't say I didn't warn ya," She shrugged casually, "I'm gonna track down my Ranchan no matter the cost!" She declared resolutely, a passionate fire in both her eyes, "Even if," She gave the man walking by her side a particularly hard glance, "I have to beat his whereabouts out of you… sugar."

Her - a C-class average warrior - beating him, the strongest man in the human world? Yeah. Like that would ever happen. But that was beside the point. "That's not for you to decide," Yusuke's declaration left a blinking expression of confusion on Ukyo's face.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Ukyo raged.

"You just don't get it, do you? But you know something, you never will. Now I'm done with ya, 'cause I've got shit to do, later," Yusuke dismissed, leaving Ukyo standing where he left her.

Yusuke would soon notice a shadow rapidly appearing a few feet ahead of him and let out a sigh of exasperation in response. Naturally, he stopped when he found his pathway blocked off by a determined Ukyo.

"Move." Yusuke commanded.

"I've had it up to here with you!" Ukyo unsheathed her spatula from her back in one fell swoop, "Now you're gonna tell me where Ranchan is, unless you want to find yourself on the receiving end of a well-cooked batch of Okonomiyaki ass kicking!" She smirked, "Though that probably what the doctor ordered for you."

"You know, I'm surprised."

"About what? That an Okonomiyaki chef is about to hand you your just desserts."

"Naw. I was just wondering since you seem to enjoy dressing like one of us dudes why don't you just get a girl. You know there's plenty a fish in the sea where Red came from."

Ukyo's smug expression fell, leaving a ludicrous one of sheer debrief.

"You can't be serious!"

"Sure. I don't see why not. There's a lot of good-looking birds out there who," The half demon coughed into his fist, "-Just so happen to be into that sorta stuff. I'm sure with your dress sense you woul-."

"Okay, I'm gonna have to stop you right there," Ukyo interrupted with no remorse for doing so, "Firstly, how I dress has nothing to do with my sexual orientation. It's a matter of preference."

Yusuke shrugged, "Fair dues, then."

"Secondly, you might want to check yourself, sugar," Her voice was a sulky smooth, even one, "Since, if I remember correctly, you were pining for Ranchan, who, if I'm not mistaken, is a definite man," Ukyo had a victorious air about her, "Check-and-mate."

"Red is a girl, tho," Yusuke said.

"Ranchan is not a girl!" Ukyo yelled.

"Meh," Yusuke shrugged, not in the least bit interested in debating this, "She is to me."

"He is not!"

"She is."

"He is not!"

"She is."

"He is not!"

"She is."

"He is not!"

"She is!"

"He is not!"

"She is times infinitely!"

"Ugh!" Ukyo grunted, having had all about she could stomach from this jackass, "I don't care what you say, Ranma-honey IS a boy, who just so happens to be my fiancée!" She yelled, putting a determined emphasis to her words, "And, in case you're wondering, I'm gonna bring him back to where he belongs, and care for him like a cute fiancée should!"

Positioning her spatula slightly above her head in the ready position to bat it at her target Ukyo let out a native American-like war-cry, taking only a few steps to an otherwise expressionless Yusuke. A few steps were all she could take before she was harshly dragged back from a steel-grip which handcuffed her wrist.

Upon managing to straighten herself, Ukyo scowled in stunned debrief, sparing a brief glance to where Yusuke was, then back to where he now stood; right at her side keeping her sternly in place with a crushing grip.

'I completely lost track of him!' Ukyo reflected in bitter frustration. She managed to resist the urge to sigh when she thought back to Ranma's sheepish confession, 'It looks like Ranma-honey weren't kidding when he admitted this jackass is stronger than him.'

"Say uncle." Yusuke ordered.

Ukyo deadpanned an expression at him, "Uh. Seriously?" When Yusuke continued to give her the stare down with his serious, irritated look, she shook her head, finding the situation quite ironic, "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, eh?"

The grip on her arm merely tightened, forcing her to clench her eyes shut out of reflex, "I'm sayin' you can't beat me, asshole," Yusuke basically spelled the scenario out for her.

Ukyo managed a smirk despite the pain. It felt as if a bloody bear had clutched onto her waist with its power, "Funny you should say that," She spoke in a sly, hinting voice, "As I recall a certain 'fast-food boy' using his fiancée as a distraction so he wouldn't have to face his just desserts."

Yusuke scoffed, ruthlessly hacking a gasping Ukyo inches from his cold, cool face, "And who said I needed hair-product girl to get away from you?" He then turned the tables on her, his voice low, making it all the more intimidating, "As I recall, I neither remember submitting to her tribe's rules of bullshitery, nor I do recall saying I would. I merely said she would earn a few points from my good book if she dealt with ya, which, judging by your lack of beauty marks, means she failed to accomplish."

Yusuke released Ukyo from his vice-lock grip, allowing the girl to instinctively stumble away from him while clutching at her throbbing wrist, "Yeah. After Shamps and I noticed how you had taken off, we simply called for a tie and left it at that," The okonomiyaki-chef relayed in a flat tone, earning herself a shrug from the half demon standing before her.

"There you have it."

Well, not quite. Ukyo's mind was still plaguing with questions. Even if she couldn't get all the answers to the questions nagging in the back of her mind… Okay, now she knew she wasn't going to get every piece of vital information, because - as clichéd as it sounded - this guy was decidedly different than the other male-fools around Nerima.

"Lemme ask you something."

That didn't mean she wasn't going to start somewhere.

"Fire away, by all means."

Having been given the go ahead by the powerful fighter, Ukyo carefully worded her question, "If you're so powerful as my Ranchan said you are, then why did you have Shamps even bother taking me on?"

"Oh. Was that all that was nagging at ya?" Yusuke mockingly asked, treating the question like one only a simpleton would ask, which only earned him a glare from Ukyo in return, "Well," He stalled, scratching his cheek with an index finger, a mischievous grin on his face, "Put it down to entertainment."

Ukyo's angry expression fell like a fish dropping into water, creating ripples, leaving an asinine one of sheer doubtfulness, "Eh?" When Yusuke simply shrugged, the Okonomiyaki-chef shook her head in a collected manner, "You can't be serious, not a chance. You're seriously telling me you set up a fight between Shamps and I for your own amusement."

"Take it or leave it," Yusuke offered with a shrug, "You get what you get."

"Jackass," Ukyo grumbled, rubbing her free hand around her still sore waist.

"Nice," Yusuke wryly complimented, shifting his body back in the direction he was going to take before running into Ukyo, "I like it. Keep doing that and maybe 'Jackass' might decide to scout you out." Ukyo glared at the retreating young man's back. For a moment she contemplated going after him to find out where Ranma was, but quickly squashed that course of action upon remembering what happened to her wrist.

"I'm still going to bring Ranma-honey back though!" Ukyo declared with a resolve of hardened steel. Her shiny, hard determination only rustled slightly when Yusuke stopped in his tracks, yet didn't turn to face her.

"Don't make me repeat myself," Yusuke said, putting a warning emphasis on the word 'Don't'. Ukyo blinked, then shivered from feeling Yusuke's murderous intent, "I told ya that's not for you to decide. Don't do a Kuno, aka loony-boy. By that I mean stupidly try and delude yourself that Ranma was girlnapped to Hell, 'cause I can assure ya now that shit won't fly. I offered Ranma a way out, and you know what? She took it 'cause she wanted a better life for herself."

Ukyo now felt a sinking fear in the pit of her stomach. Gulping slightly, she collectively asked what would only confirm her fears in a serious murmur, "What are you trying to say?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Yusuke questioned rhetorically. The heated aggression in his voice practically made Ukyo boil as if she was standing in the sun, "This joint is bullshit. Ranma's life was full of bullshitery bee-four I showed up, with her fat-ass, piece of shit old man trying to shove Blindy down her throat for his own selfish reasons."

"Wait. Hold that thought." Ukyo interrupted, actually looking a tad apologetic now. Maybe that was because she didn't mean to cut off Yusuke this time. She was just generally curious, "Who's Blindy?"

"Ryo's girl. Who did ya think it was?"

"Oh?" Ukyo returned, her eyes lowering so her face could feature a deadpan expression. How Akane didn't know about Ryoga's curse was beyond her? Everyone else did. It wasn't exactly rocket science. "Figures."

"Yeah," Yusuke deadpanned, "Then I think you can see my point here. Ranma deserves better than this. She deserves better than some lecherous old fart using her as if she was some sex-toy," Ukyo shivered from the amount of venom laced into Yusuke's voice when he recalled Happosai molesting Ranma. She couldn't argue with him there.

Ukyo's blood still boiled so hot her skin turned red from remembering what that old fool did to Ranma-honey only a month ago. Even though her heart went out for her poor fiancée, who had all of his strength sealed away, she couldn't help but feel a little pang of hope swell up inside of her heart. Ukyo hoped above all else that Ranma would've stayed at her restaurant under her protection so maybe, just maybe, they could live that fairy tailed life she had depicted them sharing in her dreams.

:( Alas, that was not meant to be.

"Or some corny, fake ass wannabe prince-charming deluding himself that she hasn't got a guy-side and her girl-side likes him but has been kidnapped by the big bad wolf," Yusuke continued to rant in his same blunt tone. Yes, he was aware how ironic that last portion of his sentence sounded.

'He's so crude and crass,' Ukyo observed with slight amusement. Her next observation caused a sad look to fall over her face, 'Even more so than Ranma-honey.' Well, she could take solace in the fact Ranma wasn't nearly as callous as Yusuke was. The guy before her seemed like the devil himself.

"And don't even get me started on Nabs," Yusuke's annoyed features morphed into a look of sheer, undeniable disgust when he remembered what Nabiki had told him a couple of weeks ago, "-Manipulating Red like she's her little bitch or something! Gimme a break, sheesh." The odd thing regarding this scariano was that Yusuke didn't know who he should actually feel disgust for.

He could hold Nabiki in contempt for manipulating Ranma like the redheaded girl was her puppet, but on the flip side, Nabiki was just using whatever means at her proposal to make money for herself. Yusuke really couldn't blame the girl for that. If there was a solution - even if it involved using a cowardly martial artist - to rack in the bills, then why not use it?

Yusuke should be disdainful towards Ranma for just _allowing_ Nabiki - a normal schoolgirl - to not only have her way with her, but also boss her around, though Ranma's commands were usually dished out by Akane. Yusuke might have laughed if it wasn't so sad knowing how submissive his friend was.

"Okay, that's all well and good," Ukyo said, her cool composure remaining firm in light of Yusuke's harsh criticism of some of Nerima's finest insane residents, "Just let me ask you something," Yusuke looked over his shoulder.

"By all means, be my guest."

"If you hold such… hatred for the fools around here, then why do you even bother staying here?" Ukyo took a moment to observe Yusuke's reaction. The young man remained unwavering, "Wouldn't it save you the stress if you just stayed with Ranma-honey wherever he is?"

Ah. Now that was a good question, but one Yusuke could answer easily enough. The wolf-fanged young man turned around, his brown orbs glaring into Ukyo's, "'Cause, I'm stronger than Ranma no matter how you try and slice it," Ukyo's features were first in a blank look of oddity, then settled in a scowl at Yusuke's easy admittance to him being stronger than Ranma. It was a hard enough pill to swallow when Ranma gave her it, let alone Yusuke.

"So?" Ukyo asked curtly, "What does you being… err, stronger than Ranma-honey have to do with you staying in Nerima if you don't like it?"

"It means I can cope with the stress better, dumbass," Yusuke summarized, "Unlike my little lady-friend, who's securely snuggled up in a safe-house of sorts, I don't let wannabes walk all over me-."

"Ranchan isn't a doormat!" Ukyo interrupted loudly.

She wished she hadn't from the amount of murderous intent Yusuke unleashed upon her. If she didn't know any better, she would say she could've sworn Yusuke's eyes were gleaming with a red highlight from his devilish anger, "Don't ever say that to me! Ever," Yusuke warned, eliciting a hard swallow from Ukyo, who instinctively took a step back upon gazing at Yusuke's glowing red devilish eyes.

What the hell was this man?

"How can you honestly say you care for Ranchan like I do, yet have the audacity to call him a door-."

"I didn't say she was one now, did I?" Yusuke asked rhetorically, giving Ukyo a pointed look, "You did!" Then, strangely enough, Yusuke's angry expression softened to one of mild annoyance, "Tho, I ain't blind to Red's faults either. She's gentle, but crass, and easily guilt-ridden. She'll say something she won't mean to Blindy, then not know how to make it up to her other than letting Blindy take out her rage on her face. Fact. And here's another fun-fact for ya, Red's also very docile and passive with how Lard-ass has raised her, so he can keep her wrapped around his little finger, you feel me?"

That was the thing; Ukyo did - in fact – understand Yusuke's point as much as it frustrated her to. She wasn't blind, far from it. She had seen first-hand the million-miles-away-from intelligent remarks that come from Ranma's mouth, then followed by the look of shock which appears on his face as if he didn't know why he just said what he previously uttered.

Akane would lunge at Ranma. Then, doing the complete opposite to what Yusuke had done the moment Ukyo charged at him, which was overpower her with a hint of indifference, Ranma did nothing. He stood, he quivered, and just waited for Akane to belt him into the air, or mallet him into the ground, the latter was a rarity, but it still happened from time to time.

Usually, Ranma would fly off to the milky way while doing the 'west-side' sign with his fingers via the Akane-ass-kicking-express after accidentally hurting her feelings.

Ranma doesn't exactly response whenever Shampoo would land on his face with her bike either.

"Yeah," Ukyo mumbled her reluctance with a soft sign. "I hate to admit it but Ranchan's never been one to retaliate against all the violence against him if it means his small sacrifice can end a quarrel. I.-" Ukyo placed her hand where her heart was, a sad look of realization gleaming in her eyes, "I think that's why I've always admired him. He's so sweet and consideration of others' feelings, even if he was the one to upset them in the first place."

"Humph." Yusuke turned his head to the side in contempt. "And y'all use that against her whenever you're pissed, am I right?" The expression of heavy regret on Ukyo's face told it all. Yusuke was right. "I rest my case." Spinning his back on Ukyo, Yusuke straightened his sack-bag and prepared to walk off. Again.

Ukyo seemingly jolted seeing Yusuke getting ready to end their controversy, "Wait! Hold up! Just let me ask you one more thing!" Ukyo requested rather too persistently, only realizing her mistake when Yusuke sent her a sharp warning look of annoyance over his shoulder, "…Please."

Yusuke inhaled through his nostrils, "…Fine. But be quick ya hear."

Ukyo nodded her cooperation, "Did Ranc-." She sighed hard, "Was I one of the reasons responsible for driving Ranma-honey away from Nerima," She hadn't meant to add the endearing suffix on the end of Ranma's name, but damn it, old habits die hard.

Yusuke took a moment to scrutinize Ukyo's expression. Only one thing came to his mind regarding the look in her eyes; desperation. She pined to have her fears put to rest that she wasn't one of the nuisances driving Ranma away from the place which drove his life to hell in the first place.

"Ah." Yusuke sighed himself, pinching the bridge of his nose. He hadn't asked for this. He wasn't one to be giving out inspirational speeches to girls with their heads in the clouds, no, he was the kind of guy that told any moping sap to get over their problems, end of story. But because Red seemed to care for her, he would try his hand at it.

"Not gonna lie, Red goes like ya."

Ukyo sighed in relief, "Well it's to be expected after all," She said, looking overjoyed Ranma liked her. She mentally kicked herself that she needed this reaffirmed to herself after Ranma had admitted such to her as little as a few hours ago, "I'm the sweet fiancée af-."

"Tho, she obviously doesn't like you enough, apparently," Yusuke halted Ukyo's happy train, hoping to deflate her before she filled herself up on her own pride, "Logically speaking. Red after all came back here yesterday to see who?" He half-turned his body to cup his ear in Ukyo's direction who was gaping like a fish, "Not _you_… me." Despite the emphasis which he put on the word _you_, Yusuke still finished off with an odd, sudden neutral tone.

Ukyo flinched, "You liar!" She roared, "Ranma-honey told me himself that he loved me only last night!"

Yusuke snorted, looking somewhat amused, "Did you really take that at face-value, little girl?" Ukyo growled in bitter frustration, "That was figure-of-speech, not literal. Here I'll give ya an example. 'Ah, that new trick Red pulled outta the bag was incredibly nifty, but it left her drained as a consequence'." Yusuke gave Ukyo a flat look, "I think you can see my point here, can't ya? In the literal sense Red meant even tho you're her friend, you were 'till being a mad-bitch, which you were, quite frankly."

About she was going to take him on? *Snickers* She must have lost her mind.

Ukyo was forced to digest the painful truth. Her instincts, were of course, telling her to run up to Yusuke and clobber him away with her spatula, but the logical part of her told her that wouldn't be in her best immediate interest. Really, a trip to the hospital didn't sound too good for business.

The Okonomiyaki-chef could in fact be very understanding, it was just that she preferred to take the easy path, which was to smash her problems away, rather than actually confront them like an adult.

'Damn it, sugar!' Ukyo scowled, very begrudgingly conceding to Yusuke's points, 'Why couldn't you have been more like the other male-fools around Nerima?'

Seeing as Ukyo hadn't responded, Yusuke figured this was all she wrote for this chapter, "Now, if you don't mind I think I'll be going," Sparing one last look at Ukyo's depressed expression, Yusuke showed her his back. It was just unfortunate that he could still sense her inward emotions, so he decided to offer her a bone.

"Hey, none of that emo-shit now, chin-up," Yusuke said bluntly, earning himself a glare from Ukyo, not that he could see it. He still massaged the side of his neck. Why was he doing this again?

An image of an innocent smiling redhead flashed in his mind.

-_- - Oh, yeah. That was why. Duh.

"Who knows, ya may end up winning the lottery if I decide to take ya to see Red one of the days," Yusuke casually suggested, as if it was meant as an offended comment.

Ukyo's eyes widened at the proposal, "No," She shook her head, "You're not serious. You're just jerking me again aren't you sugar?"

Yusuke shrugged, "I don't think so, but take it as you will," He said, "Red would like to see you. And I like to see her happy. If seeing her friend makes her happy then you should believe I'll go the distance to see that a reality, and just a possibility."

Ukyo couldn't believe her ears. All this time she believed he was planning on keeping Ranma to himself. That was why she made up her mind to beat Ranma's whereabouts out of him the moment she laid eyes on him, but that didn't work out too well.

From his following lecture Ukyo figured Yusuke would keep any and all of Ranma's past acquaintances, be they friend, family, rival, or fiancée, as far away as possible from him, to protect him, but here he was now, offering Ukyo, a fiancée and a rival to Ranma's heart, a chance to see him!

Ukyo couldn't tell whether Yusuke was unbelievably selfless and gratuitous, or exceedingly over-confident in his belief that he could make Ranma want to be a girl to be with him.

'He's more of an enigma than any jackass I've ever encountered,' Ukyo summed up, "Well… thanks. I appreciate the gesture if you're not just saying that to get my hopes up, only to watch them crash down when you don't hold up to your end of the bargain."

Yusuke grunted, "I'm not."

"Wonderful!" Ukyo said pleasantly, slamming her hands together, "So, when are we going to see Ranchan!?" She couldn't help it. She missed her best friend dearly.

"When I feel like seeing her."

"Oh. So when will that be sugar?"

"Dunno."

"Can't you give me a little hint?"

"No."

"Please."

"*sigh* You're not gonna leave me be 'till I tell ya, huh?"

"*smirks* Nope! When I set my mind to a task I don't give it up until I've succeeded!"

"Fine! Here's my number! I'll holla at ya when it's visiting time alright?"

"So, shall we just keep this a strictly business-related relationship, sugar?"

"_Fantastic._"

* * *

><p><strong>It's started getting excessively lengthy again so I decided to chop up the content and split them off in multiple chapters. <strong>

**Hope you enjoyed.**

**See ya on the flip side!**


	16. The Seed of Hatred

**Disclaimer: I don't own YuYu Hakusho or Ranma 1/2**

**I've put up a new story titled 'A Blast to the Past.' It's an YuYu Hakusho/Inuyasha crossover. So check it out if you're interested. **

* * *

><p>XxX<p>

(Tendo Dojo – Living Room – with Ryoga)

_Concentrate._

_Concentrate._

_Concentrate._

_Concentrate._

_Concentrate._

_Feel nothing but my calm breath inhaling softly through my nostrils._

_Hear nothing other than the silent sounds of my voice echoing faintly in my head._

_For I, Ryoga Hibiki, is as unmoving as a tortoise on a hot sunny day._

_The bear ferocity which resides deep within me remains slumbering 'till it is needed from its deep hibernation._

_Swim in the darkest depths of my soul, searching for the light. Closer and closer, with not even the quiet, gentle and oddly relaxing sounds of moving water can hinder me on my journey to enlightenment. _

_An intense light blinded the submerged lost-boy._

_There it is!_

"Oink!"

"Aaaah!"

"Hey, P-chan." A disgustingly familiar cocky grin unwelcomingly greeted the startled cursed, depressed-prone martial artist, "Whatcha dreamin' bout?" He asked in a feigned innocent tone, folding his arms behind his head. He took in Ryoga's bandaged state with a taunting gleam in his eyes, not missing the burned marks all over his person, "Yer lookin' kinda crispy there pal. What, did another smart aleck try and tuck into roast P-chan?"

"Saotome…" Ryoga boiled with anger, clenching his fist with his tainted, hate-filled eyes attempting to burn Saotome's smirk off of his face. Even now Saotome was still up to his old tricks, "Don't you have anything better to do besides torturing me!"

"_Heh_." Ranma let out an amused noise. "I do, but messing with Ryoga's on the top of my to-do list." He shrugged casually, "Nothing personal, man. I'm just too good at what I do."

Ryoga growled, his fists threatening to drill holes in the floorboards beneath him, "Humph." His annoyance was practically painted all over his face in the finest detail imaginable, "What are you even doing here anyway, Saotome?"

"Aw, c'mon wise-guy," Ranma jovially admonished, holding out his arms in what he hoped was a welcoming gesture, "Can't ya loosen up for just a moment?" He gave him a mock-chiding look, "Ya'll never catch a wife with that kinda attitude ya' know."

"_Feh_." Ryoga scoffed off that absurd suggestion, "Seems someone hasn't been around lately, so I'll fill ya in on the details," Ryoga welcomed this newfound feeling of aloofness. It made him feel like the bigger man of the two, "Me and Akane-chan are now, as they say, as one. That's right Saotome. While you were off being babysat by Granny, I was busy nursing Akane-chan back to her former, wonderful self, before an _damn _ingrate like you had to ruin her! Now milady's well aware a scumbag like you never deserved an angel like her to begin with!"

To Ryoga's surprise, then bizarre confusion, Ranma just chuckled, sounding almost sincere in his heartfelt laughter, "Whoa, really?" Ryoga just nodded dumbly at the young man who had been his rival for like forever, "Gee. Tell me more a' this beauty and the beast story, buddy! It sounds great!"

Ugh! There it was. He was mocking him but sweetening it up by putting on a jolly tone. Who does that _damn _ingrate think he was, huh? He was trying to make a fool out of _him _– _Ryoga Hibiki._

"Saotome…" Ryoga murmured with an intense glare aimed at Ranma.

"Aw, is someone cranky?" Ranma teased with an insulting coo.

"I'M NOT CRANKY!"

"Oh. Then ya just won the award fer best acting of the year! Congrats, Pig-boy!"

_**Let the hate flow through you.**_

Ryoga's teeth clattered, his finger-nails shovelled into his skin due to his tightening fists, his right knee removed on its own accord to sit him up as if preparing for an attack at any given moment, regardless if the sudden movement aggravated his injuries, in fact the pain he felt in his ribs only enhanced the growing flame that symbolized his burning abhorrence for the pigtailed martial artist standing before him.

"Careful. Ya'll blow a fuse if ya keep overloading yer angry circuit," Ranma mock-suggested with his taunting smile widening across his face.

_Ryoga-kun._

Ryoga's mask of sheer distorted fury shattered at that sweet, angelic voice whispering in his head, leaving an eerie stoical one in its place. It would do him no good to tear Ranma to pieces if he ended up eradicating his girlfriend's house, "I think you've had enough fun for one day, don't you, Saotome?"

"_Hmm_." Ranma made a show of cupping his chin and droning thoughtfully, "Nope! I don't think so!" He announced cheerfully, "So fasten yer seatbelt 'cos yer stuck on the Ranma-rollercoaster-express of fun!"

Ryoga sighed, slapping the palm of his hand against his forehead, "Why are you even here again?"

"O, Jeez wiz, I dunno," The black pigtailed martial artist chirped sarcastically, "Why don't-cha tell me, wise-guy?"

"And what would that be?" Ryoga returned the dry remark without hesitation, "To show you to the door, and warn you not to let it hit you on the way out?" That would actually be quite humorous for Ryoga, "Yeah! It'll be my pleasure, Saotome!"

"Where actually," Ranma said, not at all fazed by Ryoga's threat, "I was thinkin' more along the lines a' takin' the first class flight a' stairs up ta my bedroom I share with pops."

Ryoga stared at the pigtailed martial arts with clear incredulity written across his brow, but Ranma only shrugged as if he had said the most logical thing in the world, "Y-You can't be serious!" Ryoga fiercely shook his head, willing himself to believe this was all just another shenanigan of the annoyingly arrogant martial artist, "You don't even live here anymore!"

"Oh, I dunno 'bout dat," Ranma toyed with the concept with a hint of amusement in his otherwise easy-going tone, "The jury's 'till out on dat one, pal," Ranma enjoyed the view of electricity shooting from Ryoga's eyes with a wry smirk glued onto his face and arms crossed over his chest.

**Let the hate flow through you.**

"Saotome."

"Ryoga-kun!" Akane's friendly, cheerful-sounding voice made Ryoga gasp, before turning around to see his now crutch-less girlfriend walking in what looked to be a casual manner into the living room.

"Akane-chan!" Yes, she would tell that damn ingrate to get lost and leave them be to their happiness, Ryoga just knew it as he turned back to Ranma with a smug expression being painted on his face, "See Saotome! Me and Akane-chan are-."

"What are you doing here?" Akane questioned sweetly, oblivious to the fact that she just cut off Ryoga's declaration of their 'love'.

Ryoga recoiled, slowly turning back to Akane with a dumbfounded expression on his face, "H-Huh? A-Akane-c-chan, I-I-I-I-I-I," He stopped himself, now fully taking notice to the fact Akane wasn't in the assistance of (her) crutches to help her move around, "Hey, Akane-chan. What happened to your crutches?"

Akane blinked innocently, "What do you mean, Ryoga-kun? I've never wore anything of the sort in my life!" Ryoga staggered back as if he just had a heart attack, eliciting concern from his 'girlfriend', "Are you okay, Ryoga-kun? Was that idiot Ranma picking on you after he had the _nerve _to put you in this condition in the first place?" Akane groused, sending a pointed look in the 'culprit's' direction, "Honestly, if he'd just stop provoking you, then you wouldn't feel obligated to defend your honour."

Ryoga continued to stare at the girl, who he had only made his girlfriend all but a day ago, pretending like all the turmoil they went through and were brought together because of it actually didn't happen with a fearful expression on his face. Was it possible that during his meditation he had somehow travelled back to the past?

How was that even possible?

…Or maybe-.

"You were saying, P-chan?"

_**Him. **_

_Saotome._

**Let the hate flow through you.**

Ryoga turned a deadly, ice cold glare out of the corner of his _right_'s eye at the pigtailed boy, "What have you _done _to her?" He asked in a chillingly, frightening calm tone of voice, putting a puzzled look complete with blinking eyes on Akane's face.

"Ryoga-kun, what do you mean?" Akane asked softly. Unknowingly, she only proceeded to power-up Ryoga's spiralling-out-of-control hatred, "That jerk can't do anything to me. I… I don't understand what you mean."

"Yeah, P-chan," Ranma decided to add on to pile on to Ryoga's misery, "Yer acting rather, _hmm_, I dunno," He toyed around with the idea of what tag to label Ryoga with, "Ah! There we go," He gave the fuming Ryoga an excessively teasing smirk, "…Suspect. Yeah. Might I suggest taking a little trip ta old Doctor Bob, 'cuz I heard he's handing out free sessions like Halloween candy," He shrugged blandly, "Just sumthin to keep in mind."

Ryoga's teeth were practically breaking at the scenes from the amount of _sheer _force the lost-boy put behind his gnashing.

**Let the hate flow through you.**

"Ranma," Akane started patiently, suppressing a sigh by massaging a temple with her index finger, "Quit picking on Ryoga-kun. Can't you see he's ha-."

"_Saotome!" _Ryoga yelled ferociously, putting an emphasis of ferocity to Ranma's name.

Ranma blinked ignorantly, "Yeah, Pig-boy?"

"**PREPARE TO DIE!**"

In his angered, beast mode, the furious young man paid no heed to the cringe he elicited from 'Ranma' and merely stampeded his way to the now cowering martial artist, adamantly ignoring all the pain his still flesh wounds caused him to reach his 'rival'.

"L-Lad," 'Ranma' stuttered fearfully, holding up his hands in what he hoped was a calming gesture. Ryoga, through his now bloodshot red rage-shrouded sclera, ignored the peaceful gesture, snatching the gasping martial artist's neck and driving him toward the wall, mercilessly pancaking him into it with such force it rocked the entire dojo, spilling pebbles onto the floor, "N-No, p-please. I-I-I d-don't w-want t-to die…"

If Ryoga hadn't of been in such a possessed state of fury, he may have noticed the breaking of 'Ranma's' voice complete with fresh tears streaking down his cheeks.

**Let the hate flow through you. **

Yes, yes, yes, the hate! May the hatred engulf his entire _being_ if it meant he could get retribution for what Ranma had done to his _life! _He had done nothing but ruin his _life! _It was all Ranma's _fault! _He always came out on top when it came to who got the last piece of bread in school, _he_ knocked Ryoga into the cursed Spring of Drowned Piglet, he had the audacity to continuously ridicule Ryoga about his curse, and _now_ he had gone _too_ far!

He – with no name – had taken _his _precious Akane away from him.

Now, now, this meant _war!_

The martial artist held in his grasp could only stare in terrified realization of his upcoming death.

Good. That was exactly what Ryoga wanted from the fool as he stretched his free arm back and tightened his hand into a - mini mountain-esque - fist to pummel the bastard into bloody smithereens!

"_DIE!_"

"Ryoga-kun, no! That's not Ranma, it's Daddy! Please don't hurt him!"

"Eh?"

For a moment the hatred took a backseat for a dumbed look of confusion. Blinking his eyes, the intense anger slowly began to fade from his sclera, his pupils becoming clearer by the second.

Once Ryoga turned his head over his shoulder, he was hit with a sight that gave him the most tremendous bleeding pain he had ever felt in his life. Even taking Saotome's ridiculous barrage of speedy punches was lightweight compared to this.

…It was Akane – from where she stood with the assistance of her crutches by the entrance to the living room - trembling just at the mere _sight _of him.

"Akane-chan…" Ryoga's crimson enshrouded eyes filled with tears, hating himself for putting fear in Akane's eyes, 'What… have I become?' He lowered his head.

"L-Lad... err, if you don't mind…" Ryoga could now hear Soun's voice politely trying to ask him a question with a hint of worry mixed into his voice-pot.

"Eh?" Saotome wasn't here after all?

Looking back to the victim caught in his bear-grip, the terrified 'Ranma' who he had envisioned in his meditative-state miraculously faded away, materializing an equally white-as-a-ghost Soun Tendo in his place.

The hatred vanished in an instant and his eye-balls returned to their normal colours.

"Oh! I'm so sorry, Tendo-san!" Ryoga exclaimed with major embarrassment, hastily letting go of Soun so fast it was as if the man had suddenly put on a suit of boiling sun armour. He stepped back quickly, falling flat on his rear-end as his injuries burned, a sign of bad karma as he took it, "Ow."

"Ryoga-kun!" Akane didn't know why, but she couldn't help but show pity to her boyfriend when she'd have been screeching at guys like Yusuke and Ranma for threatening her papa such in the same way Ryoga did. It could be a toss-up for her Ryoga-biased or her extreme prejudice for rude-boys, "Hold on! I'm coming!"

Struggling with a bitter grief-stricken expression on his face, Ryoga pounded the floor, eliciting a flinch from Akane at the frustrated action, "Damn," Ryoga grimaced slightly. He was disgusted in himself, "Damn," He tried to repeat the word with more vigour, but his slow-descent into melancholy kept his voice to a tear-induced whisper.

The floor was used as target practise again as Ryoga's right fist came down on it with a little more force than last time. The lost-boy winced from his searing wounds, "Why is it always me?" He wailed through clenched teeth, clenching his eyes shut with his fists balling into the tiled flooring of the living room, "Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?" The anguishing lost-boy repeatedly drummed his right hand off of the floor, feeling the edges of his eyes clouded by the moisture of sadness.

Akane regarded Ryoga empathetically. She didn't know rather it was because she cared for Ryoga personally, but Akane just couldn't heartlessly watch anyone suffer without feeling a batch of pity swell up inside of her for them… regardless of their previous wrongful actions.

What mattered here was that they were remorseful.

"Oh Ryoga-kun, please don't be sad," Akane begged, her tone a soft soothing one. She inched closer to the floored lost-boy, stopping by the side of his body. She carefully removed one of her arms from her crutch, closing her eye as her own injury came into play. Through her determination to comfort Ryoga, Akane bit her lip to stop from screaming out while she gently sat herself on her knees, "It's okay, really."

Akane blinked when she picked up on the sounds of Ryoga's sniffles. It was because of that was why she couldn't suppress the gasp that escaped her lips when Ryoga lifted up his head and turned it in her direction, revealing wet tears running down his cheeks.

"What's happening to me?" Ryoga whimpered.

Akane wasn't one at variance with the concept of crying; fact of the matter was, sobbing and Akane were often correspondent with one another. It was something she frequently did whenever Yusuke blanked her attempts to draw him into an argument. Thankfully, she _always _had Ryoga to cheer her up. Hence lied the problem.

Ryoga was _the _one at polar odds with sobbing. Heck. The only time you would see the words Ryoga and cry in the same sentence if the word doesn't was in the middle.

Just seeing her newly announced significant other crying was a jarring sight for one Akane Tendo, but like any good, supporting girlfriend, Akane did her best to comfort him by gently stroking his back.

"Please don't cry, Ryoga-kun," Akane comforted, "It's okay, really," She offered him her best dazzling smile, but it had the opposite effect since Ryoga bitterly turned his head away from her, "You know! We all make mistakes, right?!" Akane asked with a cheery, forgiving smile on her face.

Her attempts at picking Ryoga up fell flat on its face. Instead, Ryoga found his way of coping with the pain. He grabbed all his emotions, and basically threw them in the closet, staring lifelessly at the floor, tear-marks staining his cheeks.

"It's okay," Akane stubbornly tried again, her eyes reflecting her sadness, "Papa's not mad at you, I promise he isn't!" On that note, the blue haired young woman turned toward her father, who – strangely enough – still hadn't pried himself from the wall.

Now that the major scare to his life was over, Soun's fear rested, but he still felt cautious of the ticking time bomb that had only recently been defused.

"Tell him, Papa!" Akane's desperate plea snapped Soun's out of his wary consideration of Ryoga, "Tell Ryoga-kun you hold no ill feelings toward him!" Akane implored, her glistening eyes practically screamed, 'Please.'

"Err, uhm… yes," Soun fumbled for an answer, then fell back to the tried-and-true response to settle all controversies, his sheepish features morphing into a bland, calm expression, "I bear no grudge toward you, lad. I'm sure what… you did was only an instinctual reaction for the course of action you would've taken against… Ranma-kun," Shutting one of his eyes, Soun couldn't suppress the slight grunts coming from his mouth when he attempted to free himself from his sardined-position.

"Oh. I say, I seem to be having a little difficulty removing myself from my, err, rather comfortable position," Soun said, nervously trying to sugar-coat his entrapment upon sensing his daughter's ire locked on him. With one almighty heave, Soun drove himself out of the wall, clumsily stumbling forward with more pebbles flying about.

Akane glared at him.

"There we have it!" Soun said, putting on a delightful tone with a cordial clap of his hands, hoping to get Akane's anger off of him for the time being. Seemingly remembering his own assault hadn't come without dire consequences, mainly the damage done to his living room-wall, Soun buoyantly turned around, regarding the wall with a thoughtful hum.

"Hm. I see. The damage looks to be quite excessive, but not unfixable," Soun said, one arm folded behind his back with his free hand rubbing his chin. This was assuming he could even dig up the necessary funds to mend the wall. Soun's bank account had been ridiculously low as of late after he only recently managed to replace his destroyed oven, kettle, fridge and microwave – in that order, courtesy of one Urameshi.

The Tendo-family had been forced to live off takeaways. As for their personal hygiene, they've had the friendly neighbourhood laundrette to rely on exclusively, and the local bathhouse to keep them clean. The latter was only used a few times, since all Soun had to do to get his water-heater up-and-running was to make a quick call to the council.

The repairs were free it was just a matter of getting the guy here to fix it.

Akane sighed, turning her head back to the brooding Ryoga, "See Ryoga-kun!" The blue-haired beauty said triumphantly, "Papa's not mad at you, so…" Her winning expression fell from her face, tagging itself out for a pleading one to take centre stage, "You can stop being sad now," She murmured, her hand beginning to tremble on Ryoga's back, "…Please."

Soun didn't know how long he stood in the same place blankly watching his precious daughter desperately trying to cheer up her, err, special friend – yes – but he figured if it was any longer the cows would've had a chance to come home.

Perhaps the most surprising revelation was Akane herself. Her patient-levels were holding up remarkably firm despite the annoying delay. It pained Soun to gain a remembrance of a time where his youngest daughter's tolerance would've let up long before now.

Oh. Why couldn't she have been this understandingly mature with Ranma?

"Akane-chan."

Finally hearing Ryoga speak in a low murmur was basically the equivalent of winning the lottery.

"Yes, Ryoga-kun?"

Ryoga sent her the most forlorn, apologetic expression she had ever seen on a person. Period.

"I'm sorry…"

"Ryoga-kun," Akane had a sneaky feeling just what he was actually apologizing for, but pushed it away, "You've got nothing to apologize about! Honest!"

Yet, Ryoga was not convinced, "I'm gonna get some rest," He murmured stoically, turning away from Akane and lying on his side, using his elbow to keep his head up, "Can you, uhm, err, wake me up when supper's ready, dear?"

Akane felt a little relieved to hear Ryoga's usual politeness, amidst the stoic-exterior, "Of course, sweetie," She gently fondled Ryoga's side in a rhythmic fashion, "Just get some rest. Okay," She offered him another reassuring smile, not that he could see it anyway, "It's gonna be okay, I promise."

Ryoga didn't answer; he just nodded his content and remained in his relaxed position. Obviously not the best of positions to be in when one needed sleep, but in an unlikely show of perception Akane figured her beloved's mind was too clouded to rest for the immediate future.

"Well, now that that's taken care of, I think I'll be going now," Soun said mildly, standing still as if he had sensed that Akane wanted to speak with him. When it was clear Akane didn't have any intentions of stopping him, Soun coughed sheepishly into his fist, "Yes."

Soun made his way out of the living room.

Akane remained at Ryoga's side as if she was his guardian angel, a concerned expression on her face. Her mind replayed all of Ryoga's bizarre outbursts of intense hatred, from his first reunion with Ranma, to his confrontation with Mr S, and his more recent violent assault on her father.

Akane just couldn't deduce what could be the cause to Ryoga's intense hatred. The only time when she could recall he was relatively justified going batshit insane was against that jerk Mr S, and even then he may have gone a little overboard.

Dr Tofu will be out of business for a good long while.

Poor guy, he didn't deserve that. He was just unfortunate to get caught up in the crossfire.

Akane made a resolution to get to the bottom of this, 'No matter what I'm gonna figure out where Ryoga-kun's hatred comes from!' She mused with a determined expression on her face, fists tightening in her lap, 'And I'm gonna help him move past it!'

"Oh imouto."

Akane turned a curious eye toward the entrance of the living room.

"Yes, Kasumi-oneesama."

"Your friends have been so kind as to come and see you."

"Sayuri and Yuki are here?" Akane asked perkily, "Tell them I'm coming Kasumi-oneesama!"

"Okay, dear," Kasumi's polite voice rang out.

Akane fixed her troubled partner with one last resolute stare, "Don't you worry, Ryoga-kun! You just get some rest! I'm gonna help you through this no matter what!" She giggled, a shy flush coming to her cheeks, "Because that's what couples do, right? They help each other in their time of need," With that chirped, Akane timidly hovered over Ryoga, her lips getting moist in despite of the scowl Ryoga had on his sleeping face.

"Ryoga-kun," Akane whispered with soft dreamy eyes.

Inch by inch her heart rate increased, to the point where she could clearly hear the thumping of her heart. She stubbornly pressed on; her lips were now as close as they could be without actually caressing Ryoga's cheek. She felt her arousal go up quite a bit upon taking in Ryoga's sweaty scent.

"Ryoga-kun…"

Drenched lips lovingly fondled a bandaged cheek with a moan echoing throughout the air.

"Oh Akane-chan."

XxX

(Upstairs)

"Where are you going, Father?"

Soun couldn't suppress the cringe which coursed through his body at hearing his middle daughter's probing inquiry.

To someone as hawk-eyed as Nabiki the patriarch of the Tendo Dojo must have stuck out like a sore thumb in a party full of hip, rowdy teens.

"Uhm! Never you mind, dear!" Soun blurted out hastily, clutching the ends of his long, trench coat together, a clear sign of not only his nervousness, but his initiative to remain a nondescript civilian.

Nabiki blinked. It was quite a rarity to hear her father backchat so curtly to either her, or her other two sisters, when in fact he was usually very polite, even _more so _to guys he feared with a strong passion, like Yusuke and Happosai.

"You know daddy, if you plan to stay under the radar, I do suggest not looking so shady," Nabiki casually quipped, eliciting a flinch from the suspicious-looking Soun. Really, who was her father fooling? If he didn't watch himself, he'd end up getting himself apprehended by the cops, Nabiki was almost positive of it. He looked like one of those drug-dealers often seen in alleyways and the like.

"I'll try to keep that in mind," Soun said blandly, adjusting the hat on his head to cover his eyes, "I won't be gone long, dear. I just need to tend to some… err, errands," He explained with a minor cough of mortification, "Yes."

Nabiki blinked with an easy expression of dubiety on her face to read, "Am I to take it you've already completed your other task issued to you by Boss?" She asked with a shrug of disregard for her father's well-being, "Or have you completely forgotten the consequences one must take for failing a task?"

"Err-." Soun tried.

"If that's the case then I'll gladly remind you!" Nabiki beamed curtly, "-Remind you it's not that bad," After seeing her father take in a breath of relief, she gained a naughty smirk on her face, "-For me that is."

Soun cringed, knowing he walked straight into that one.

"I can't possibly imagine how terrible your punishment will be, Daddy," Nabiki said, feigning a look of concern on her face with a hand cupping her chin in acted tentativeness, "I hear it's truly awful. It makes me realize how fortunate I am, since I conveniently happen to be one of Boss' favourites," She winked secretively, "Though if I'm being honest I haven't been entirely too truthful, more like giving you an innuendo, so you can taste the crust off the surface."

Soun felt that all-too familiar realization every father could relate to feeling at some point in their daughters' lives settle itself in his stomach. A bead of sweat basically froze on his cheek and his eyes were stuck in shock-mode.

"A-Ah. Ahem. Say, w-what could you possibly be getting at dear?" Soun hesitated, forcing an optimistic smile to curve itself on his lips, "Why, I-I'm fairly confident in myself that I raised you and your two other equally lovely sisters to be respectable, well-reserved women of society," He chirped with crucial uncertainty, "…T-That i-is w-why I have total faith in you that you'd wait until marriage to commit fully to any man you may choose."

Oh mercy, that was incredibly difficult and above else; awkward. Just the thought of losing anyone of his lovely daughters to any man other than Ranma was an impossible pill to digest for Soun. Watching them grow up without his beautiful wife by his side had always been a considerable relief for Soun knowing any of them - to his knowledge - hadn't had any romantic relationships. It certainly helped matters greatly when a younger Akane had come home one day from school complaining about an icky boy having got a tad frisky with her.

Call him selfish, but Soun couldn't help but feed Akane's hatred of young boys to keep her available in case he ever needed her to marry Saotome's child to carry on his school.

Selfish, maybe, in fact highly debateable, but Soun was a loving and _single _father who just wanted his daughters to be well-nurtured.

No man could ever care for them like Soun did, though Saotome's child was definitely an excellent candidate to give it a go.

Nabiki's eyes shined with a predatory golden-seeing-opportunity, "That's going to cost ya."

Soun sighed with a proverbial rain cloud hanging over his head, his hand slowly reaching within the confines of his left pocket, "How much?" His wallet was out.

"The usual with a ten percent interest," Soun Tendo's second daughter beamed with a wink, "A girl's gotta make a profit too, you know," Soun moaned, walking over to Nabiki while simultaneously opening his wallet. He took out a couple of bucks and a few dimes before handing them over to his greedy daughter, who nonchalantly thumbed the dollars, then flicked a dime into the air, "The pleasure's all mine."

"So," Soun said, a nervous, uneasy smile on his face as he rubbed his hands together, "Y-You w-were s-saying my lovely daughter?"

Nabiki looked at her father as if trying to recall what they were talking about, which only proceeded to elicit a hard gulp from Soun. Heh. It was so fun manipulating her foolish father, "Oh. You can't possibly mean _that_?" She asked, sounding remarkably idle with a hand propped on her cheek and her eyes not facing Soun's.

"Yes, dear," Soun confirmed bluntly, "_That._"

"You really have nothing to fret about," Nabiki seemingly assured him with an unconcerned shrug, "I was merely implying that I used my _womanly_-_charms_ to worm my way into Boss' good books."

"W-What?" Soun stuttered loudly.

"Though if you were insinuating as to what kind of punishment Boss gives me for crossing the line, well," The brown-haired young mercenary showed her gasping father the kind of kittenish smile she would show her supposed tormentor, "-You can rest your weary head because I find it pleasurable myself, instead of punishing."

"…"

*...*

0...0

An incredibly light-headed feeling hit Soun who staggered back with a hand placed on his heart.

"Is everything okay, Daddy?" Nabiki enquired. Oh she just knew how hugely rhetorical that question was in nature, but quite frankly, she didn't care. When she smelled a wounded animal, Nabiki Tendo went in for the kill, "It looks like you're going to pass out from over assertion," She had to shrug at the irony of her observation, "That would make sense. Perhaps you should sit yourself down. After all you're not getting any younger."

Soun found his way to the other side of the wall, panting heavily with a wounded, heavy expression of depressive failure on his face, "Oh! How could the gods be so cruel?!" He moaned melodramatically, only earning himself a wry grin from his manipulative daughter, but he completely missed it, 'Or maybe I-I-I-I…' It was too difficult to admit to himself that he had failed to protect his daughters.

A frighteningly devilish smirk appeared in his mind complete with gleaming crimson eyes.

'Yes, that's it! How could I do anything? The lad's too strong for _me_! Waa!' Soun cried with tears pouring down his eyes, 'Waaaaaaaaa! It's fate! It's being so merciless to my family and myself!' Soun wailed, his mind replaying what he had heard the master and Saotome were trying to achieve. 'Yes, of course! How could I forget? Saotome knows what he's doing! I'll go out, find him and the master, then we'll fetch that nice Ganondorf-fellow they've been fighting so courageously to bring back. Then he'll save the world from the evil Urameshi-kun's wrath!'

Nabiki blinked curiously at her father's sudden shift from falling wildly into the colourless pit of despondency, to riding the colourful rainbow of buoyancy, "Didn't that last _so_ long?" She said sarcastically, shaking her head, "How the wonders of being bipolar never cease to amaze me." It was clear to Nabiki where Akane's inheritance of bipolar came from.

"Go to your room, dear," Soun ordered. His light tone made his gentle command sound more like a suggestion. Nabiki blinked, but before she could begin to interrogate her father about it he quickly rushed down the stairs, being remindful of few incomers on his way down.

"Well that was certainly interesting," _If not a little worrying_, Nabiki mused the rest in her mind with infinitesimal reluctance. She would have to check into this. Boss may want to know about it.

The dull thumps coming closer let Nabiki know her injured sister was struggling to climb the stairs, which just equalled extra amusement for her. The observant middle Tendo sibling picked up on the subtle gossiping of Akane's two nondescript fan-girls.

As Nabiki predicated it to be, Akane and her girls appeared on the top step; a strained expression on Akane's face from hobbling up the steps and equal degrees of concerned expressions on her best friends' faces.

Akane's eyebrows lifted when she spotted her older sister standing by her bedroom door.

"Nabiki?" Akane wondered, getting a false wave of pleasant greeting from Nabiki.

"So nice to see you too, little sis," She said with mild sarcasm, continuing along the same trail but going in a witty way, "Rounding up your own little henchwomen I see."

"Nabiki-."

"-Tendo."

Sayuri and Yuki respectively greeted the middle Tendo daughter in a nervous, synchronized order.

Akane simply ignored her sister's sardonic nature. She was by far used to it by now, "Did you happen to see daddy hurrying down the stairs dressed like a detective by any chance?"

Nabiki decided to play with her, "I might."

"Oh. So have you got any idea where he was heading off to?" Akane enquired with inextinguishable bewilderment on her face, "He wouldn't even stop for just a moment to say 'hi' to Sayuri-chan and Yuki-chan! Can you believe that? Ugh! What's going on with him, seriously?"

Nabiki opted to show her little sister something of an extreme infrequency for her. It was moments such as these that she was glad her little sister's ignorance was as high as she usually booted Ranma off to whenever the idiotic boy annoyed her enough to do so; the heavens.

Akane would never know. She would just think Nabiki was being her usual unfair self, and wouldn't think to look underneath the layers.

"And hence we find ourselves a problem," Nabiki started in a discourteous manner, pushing herself off of her doorframe and closing her door. Smirking slyly at the girls' inquisitive expressions, Nabiki turned her back on the girls. But before walking off to her next destination in mind, Nabiki offered them one last roguish grin over her shoulder.

"You can't afford it."

That was Nabiki's way of showing a sense of mercy.

Surprisingly, Akane's blinking expression never faded, despite the fact both of her friends let out disappointed moans.

XxX

_THE WORLD'S STRONGEST MAN_

**The **

**Seed **

**Of **

**Hatred **

_CHAPTER SIXTEEN _

XxX

(Elsewhere – Location Unknown – With Yusuke)

XxX

"Well screw you old man!" A furious Yusuke yelled.

A couple of significant motions were done by the founder of the Makai tournament in his rage-induced state.

Firstly, he momentarily freed his hand by dropping his sack bag.

Secondly, he bitterly swiped his boat-shaped white hat off of his head.

Thirdly, he screwed up the identity-clad piece of clothing up as if it was incriminate evidence that should not be allowed to see the light of day.

Fourthly, he aggressively pulled off the nametag on his blue dress shirt _that_ he _just so happen to_ inadvertently tear off his body as if it was a mere poster stuck to the wall, revealing his green sleeveless vest-top which highlighted his broad shoulders and massive becks.

And finally, despite the previous rather clumsy, ungraceful mistake brought about by his blind rage, Yusuke's actions contradicted his mistake when he threw the ripped up blue shirt along with the screwed up hat and nametag at a little trailer-home esque restaurant with a massive burger-sign propped on top of it.

"Pfft. Never liked the colour blue anyway," Yusuke groused, picking up his sack-bag and shoving his left hand within the confines of his left jeans pocket, "Green appeals more to my sense of need." He finished lamely, positioning his sack-bag coolly on his shoulder.

Becoming irritated at the shooing motion a lanky, but obese man was doing Yusuke eyed him one last time with a dark scowl, then pivoted on his heels, "Geez. Put your whistle away, old man. The mutt already took his ass outta here," Yusuke offered the man one last bird sign with his free arm raised nonchalantly into the air, "Adios, motherfucker."

XxX

(Elsewhere)

"Sheesh. I would say, 'well I at least have something to put away in the truck,' if the fuel hadn't already been nabbed away by the cat burglar," Yusuke recollected, an impassive mask on his face despite the barest bits of amusement sipping into his tone.

As he stepped through the red-painted doors of a huge blue-painted, four-story high apartment complex after scanning his lens-key on the black lens underneath the dial pad, he asked himself was this karma's redemption for treating Ranma the way he did, or just Ranma's.

"Tch, can't believe I'm debating this," Yusuke muttered, a hint of fondness in his voice as he made his way over to the elevator at the end of the bland-looking corridor he was walking in, pasting by multiple orange-painted doors with varying numbers, "It was obviously all Red. Heh. I can almost picture her now," Upon reaching the elevator, he called it down before raising up his index finger, his voice taking on a mock-Ranma accent.

"Who does Yu-chan thinks he is, huh, that big sexy hunk of man meat?" As a ping echoed throughout the air, followed by the opening of the elevator doors, he chuckled to himself, "Really? Well… shucks, Red. You didn't have to go that far; I woulda gone with mildly handsome myself."

After pressing the button leading to the highest floor, which just happened to be floor twenty, he brought his left hand up to stroke his chin, continuing on his mock-sincerity of himself, "But if that's your view of me, then ya won't hear a word of complaint come from my trap."

After the adrenaline of gaiety of imaging what his friend's reaction would be to his false pleasant response to her vengeance Yusuke's mood sobered considerably, with last night's events still playing picture clear in his mind.

"Tho, after what Red brought to the table at Midget-lady's restaurant she might not even want to swing that way," Yusuke murmured contemplatively, trying to forcefully will away the forlorn feeling swelling up inside of him. He did want his friend to be happy, even if Ranma's version of euphoria didn't involve him by her side.

However, now Yusuke had his doubts if Ranma really meant what she said at the cat-café specifically with how she acted when he showed up to put an end to her fight with Sachiko.

"Let's see here," Yusuke began ticking off the hints which pointed to the possibility of Ranma liking him in _that _way, "The first thing she did when she laid eyes on me, was quietly call out to me using the little _pet _name she labelled me with," Yusuke groused, "Nice one for that Red," He sarcastically groaned, though quickly shook off his annoyance to get back to the task at hand.

"Just the way she said it would give just about anyone a sure-fire yes that I take her breath away by just showing up in a flashy intro," Yusuke said, "Even after that when I got under her skin she 'till sorta acted like I was gonna bite her head off," He recalled a few of Ranma's timorous gestures around him, "More so after I planted one on her, yeah. Her river-of-histrionics almost reached Pansy-boy's level, sheesh." Yusuke shook his head in annoyance.

When the elevator doors opened up, Yusuke stepped out of it and began making his way to his apartment door, still listing off hints, "She chose to scram right back to her shy cave after that, even more so when I gave her my shirt. She could barely look at me in the eye." He chewed on this trail of thought, "Even bee-four that she didn't have an answer on hand to pass over to Chef when Sachiko called her out."

Yusuke remembered how he was deeply immersed in Ranma's reaction when Sachiko taunted her regarding her potential feelings for him. It was more brooding mediation than some prolonging hope of being with Ranma. Yusuke wasn't an optimist.

It just stuck odd to him seeing Ranma react so strongly to being accused of having an attraction to him when she blatantly told him she was a guy, and her tone at the time heavily implied she wasn't interested in another person who had a junk in the trunk.

The only logical explanation to what Ranma told him at the cat café and how strongly she reacted when Sachiko teased her that Yusuke could think of was Ranma's state of mind might be totally at odds with her heart.

Her mind might be telling her to say one thing but that didn't necessarily mean her heart had to fully agree with her decision.

Rationalizing Ranma's statement with her incompatible actions made it seem so, especially given the fact her father would've strictly raised her to be an old-school traditional _manly-man_.

'Sheesh. The man-among-men shit is incredibly stupid.'

A ludicrous objective to meet it may be but Yusuke couldn't deny the fact setting out to accomplish such an masculine task would definitely influence someone as strong-willed, yet naïve and dim-witted as Ranma. Ranma even said something that particularly peaked Yusuke's interest.

The Mazoku-descendant could recall Ranma mentioning that being a girl required _no _expectations from her father.

'Lard-ass' expectation of her is probably why she tries to put on the macho-act,' Yusuke mused with bored disinterest, 'She'll get a D minus,' Yusuke decided, 'Corny, phony wannabes are usually on the bottom of my list.' But he knew he couldn't truly pinpoint Ranma's attempts at being something she was not on her, not when she had spent most of her life being bashed over the head with Genma's idealistic vision of a '_man_.'

Her apprehension of potentially disappointing her old man could most likely be the cause as to why Ranma adamantly refuses to step out of the closet – so to speak.

'It's like Red's scared of the possibility if that she steps even a little bit across the line, Lard-ass won't hesitate to disown her on the spot,' Yusuke surmised, reaching his door in the form of a orange-painted door with the number labels nine hundred and fifty four pinned on it, 'Worst case scenario she'll be as lost as a sap in a deserted island without the necessary tools to manage on her own.'

Sliding his hand into his pocket, his grip on a set of metal made a clattering sound echo throughout the air, reverberating from the set of keys he now wielded. Singling out his door key, Yusuke propped said key into the key-hole and walked within his apartment.

"Well, with Granny holding onto Red's other hand, maybe soon she'll feel complied to leggo of Lard's ass hand, then I can put his dumbass-self where it belongs, with the fishes," Yusuke brooded, allowing his door to shut and lock itself. He sauntered through his narrow, small little corridor and into his living room/kitchen, carelessly throwing down his sack-bag on his sofa.

"Hope so, anyway," Yusuke added with a heavy sigh, looking at the sink littered with a few dirty pots and an equally slimed up ladle. Well, at least Ranma saved him the trouble of cleaning out a bowl, the greedy slob, "She's gonna have to, by the looks of things. Lard-ass doesn't seem like the type to welcome his '_all_ _manly-man' _tike's choice of dessert… fucking asshole." He whispered with resentment in his tone.

Walking over to his sink, Yusuke banished off those particular thoughts before they could descend to devilish ideas, "Well! Might as well get some spring cleaning done," He deadpanned, though the humour in his voice contradicted his straight-faced expression.

"Shit ain't gonna get done by itself, and that I'm supposedly a free bird for like the one millionth time… thanks a bunch, Chef," Yusuke expressed a fake moment of gratitude towards Ukyo, "My schedule's freed up, so without further ado, it's high time I wipe the grime off these plates and straight to the sewers of smelly hell!"

Before he could attend to the chores, a techno-based beat started reverberating from somewhere on his person, though its location was quickly given away from the feel of vibration basically massaging Yusuke's upper thigh.

"Geez. Right when I decide to actually deal with the chores to keep my pad spick-and-span, someone has to holla," Yusuke muttered, digging into his pocket in one instance and in the next pulling out his lit-up flip-up phone. Taking one glance at the caller ID, Yusuke gained an inquisitive look, "Huh, Ginger-samurai? Now what the hell could he want?" Yusuke shrugged. There was only one way to find out.

In one smooth, effortless motion, Yusuke's phone was knocked up, then brought to his ear, "Hell~oo," Yusuke echoed into the speaker, purposefully breaking his choice of word with his usual cockiness on show, "And what might interest you today that you felt you needed to holla at the Great Urameshi-sama, Bonehead?"

"_Urameshi_," A similar, deep miffed-induced gruff voice hit Yusuke's ear, "_Yeah, so great in fact I forgot your greatness enabled you to be too cool for school, punk_."

Yusuke was _not_ a fan of getting his famous sarcasm threw back in his face, made evident by the mirth-based threat he gave his childhood friend, "I would watch what I'm sayin' if I were ya, Kuwabara," He deliberately brought up his free hand close to his phone to audibly crack his knuckles, "Been feelin' kinda stressed lately. Might have to pay you a visit. Whaddya say, you feelin' like being a volunteer punching bag? I could always count on ya for that back in the day. Your mug is proof enough of that."

Whereas a normal man unsimilar with Yusuke and his friendly threats may've folded instantly, Kuwabara merely let out a few mock-soothing noises, "_Aw, boo, hoo, Urameshi. What happened? Did you get your ass fired by your fast food minimum wage paid job_?" The dubbed Ginger-samurai jeered.

Yusuke bristled. With anyone else other than Kuwabara he would've been on hand to pull out a cover-up story from his behind, but with Kuwabara and his all-seeing psychical abilities Yusuke never could tell whether Kuwabara was just taunting him or if there was a deeper, literal meaning behind Kuwabara's mocking words.

"You conniving little son of a bitch," Yusuke growled lowly, "How the fuck did yo-. I mean, uhh, I didn't get sacked. What are you smoking, Bonehead?" Yusuke suddenly try to play it off as all cool, as if he had an lingering hope Kuwabara would drop the matter entirely, "So…" Yusuke said, rubbing the side of his neck sheepishly when he could only hear Kuwabara's breathing, "So, It's all good in the hoo-."

"_Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha_!" Yusuke fumbled his phone in his hand from Kuwabara's sudden eruption of laughter, "_I can't believe it! Urameshi, you actually did get fired!_" It didn't matter if Yusuke's phone was still being juggled into the air, Kuwabara's loud obnoxious voice assured that Yusuke heard every bit of his jeer, _"I can't believe I got that right! I didn't even use my spiritual awareness, or anything! Hahahahahaha."_

Yusuke finally caught his phone in a goofy clap, breathing in relief when he realized he hadn't accidentally cut off Kuwabara.

"_What's the matter, Urameshi?_"

By the wry-induced question alone, it was clear to Yusuke that Kuwabara had heard the loud beep echoing through his phone from Yusuke randomly pressing a dial button in his scrambling to catch his phone – which was the hash and zero keys, Yusuke learned from giving a quick glance at his phone.

"_Can't handle the heat_?"

"Naw. Your mike just happened to be on high," Yusuke countered.

The implications were easily enough to pick up, "_Humph. You played hot potato with your phone,_" It was more of a statement than a question, "_Either that or you just had butter fingers_?"

"How original," Yusuke handed his friend a false compliment with a grin on his face, "All that work and what do the results have to show?" He let out the barest bits of amusement in the form of titters in his otherwise calm tone, "A barely above average grad student with toddler-level comebacks, Haha. That's so _reassuring_, in fact they shoulda just given you a scholarship, Bonehead."

"_Whatever, Butter fingers_," Kuwabara said with a tone indicating his contempt, "_I'm sure KEIKO would just LOVE to hear how you flunked outta work like yo_u dropped _out of school,_" Yusuke could hear the sophistication in Kuwabara's voice, and it annoyed him, "_I know! Let's call her in now, shall we? Haha!_" Kuwabara beamed goofily.

"You better not, Bonehead!" Yusuke threatened, "Or else I'll come down there so fast the Flash will turn green with envy, bee-four turning your head from bone to mush!"

"_Think again, Urameshi! In case you've forgotten I – Kazuma Kuwabara – have the best spiritual awareness of the team! I'll sense you coming within a twenty mile radius, Punk!_" Kuwabara bragged, bellowing out a chortle, "_Face it! You're days of sneaking up on me are over!_"

"And when have I ever felt the need to sneak up on you?" Yusuke enquired, using a dispassionate tone to get his point across, "Need I remind ya what the score is between you and I, Doofus?"

"_Quit being a smartass, Urameshi," _Kuwabara commanded.

"Translation: I ain't got a retort so please be civil," Yusuke quipped casually, a smirk playing on his lips as he rubbed his chin with his free hand, "Sure. I'll accept your act of surrender. 'Cause I'm after all, _civil._"

Kuwabara growled, making a flirting noise with an undertone of disdain, "_Please! An honourless punk like you probably can't even spell the word civil! You really wanna know why I assumed you'd resort to such disgraceful tactics, punk? It's 'cause you have no code of honour!_"

"Right. The Honour-of-dumbass, your shtick. The Code-of-letting-broads-kick-your-ass," Yusuke mock-summarized Kuwabara's chivalry, earning himself frustrated grunts through his phone from Kuwabara, "Somehow, I don't think it's for me," He knew his satirical sense of humour would grind on Kuwabara's nerves, "Why don't-cha keep it to yourself?"

"_No honour,_" Kuwabara grumbled, "_But that's thing about you Jet-li-_ _plagiarism-wannabes-."_

"Sweet!" Yusuke falsely applauded, putting on an acted upbeat tone, "That one musta taken you and Yukina _years _in the lab to conjure that one up. Am I right or… _am I right_?"

"_I'm trying to make a point here, Urameshi_," Yusuke would've expected a younger Kuwabara to bellow out in a furious rage for insulting his wittedness, but fly-off-the-handle-Kuwabara was long gone. He was older now, as his mild admonishment to Yusuke spoke for itself.

"_As I was saying, you Kung-fu guys have no honour! None! Even Short-stuff understands the pinnacle, righteous way of the samurai!" _Kuwabara simply continued his composed speech.

"Uh-uh."

"_I mean, geez Urameshi. How does that feel? Short-stuff of all people understands more about honour than you. Hmm. But on second thought even Kurama's beating you there, man. He may not be all about the samurai like I, myself, and occasionally Short-stuff pride ourselves on, but he at least can respect the samurai's righteous path. That's more than you can say, Punk._"

Oh no, no, Kuwabara was not doing this.

"Uhhhh. Is there a point to this?"

"_The honourable code that any fellow samurai follows to their __deaths __is an unspoken, unwritten man-to-man document that should not be trifled with, Urameshi! It's about knowing who or who not to pick a bone with! Like… like… like girls!_" His voice suddenly took on a shaky tremble at the mention of the opposite sex.

Oh, holy hell. He _was _doing this.

"I'll have a bone to pick with you if you don't shut it!"

"'_Cause it's not right to fight girls_," Kuwabara's voice merely returned to its fully confident, yet equally as even-tempered tone.

"I know a little bird who wouldn't like the sound of that," Yusuke mused aloud, his tone and expression were incredibly imperturbable to Kuwabara's passionate preaching, apart from the slight amusement that slipped into his eyes at the thought of a fuming redhead trying to attack Kuwabara.

Yusuke was a little peculiar as to why he found Ranma's angry expression just so, attractive – a beauty only rivalled by Keiko's furious expression. Yusuke's assumption to his uncanny preference was that angry girls were just one of the types of girls that got him aroused.

"_The Code-of-Honour enables the righteous samurai to assist the misfortunate and those in need in general._"

"Okay, you're starting to piss me off, now."

"_Be it if it's just to help a struggling old lady across the street, assist the brave policemen in their attempt to put a stop to a bank-robbery, there by arresting the scum in the progress, warning your fellow colleagues of an impending earthquake, or even offering our assistance to a punk detective attempting to be the saviour of the world, we samurais play our part!" _

"Gah!"

Yusuke's grunt of enlarging indignation was largely lost in the moment of Kuwabara.

"_But most of all, we, the faithful ones, of the Code-of-Honour know our lim-."_

"Kuwabara! Cut to the chase damn it!"

"_Daahh_!" The caught-off-guard Kuwabara sputtered loudly in surprise, "_Damn it, Urameshi. What gives? I was trying to make a point here_?"

"Yeah. And you _weren't _exactly taking an millennia to get that 'point' across," Yusuke's ironic remark earned him sheepish, gruff chuckles through his speaker, "Were you running for president or trying to recruit me to your culture of goody-two-shoes? _Hmm_, I wonder."

Kuwabara's embarrassed laughter morphed into a set of goofy guffaws, "_Yeah, I guess I did get kinda carried away there._"

"_No_. You think?" Yusuke said brusquely.

"_Sorry, man,_" Kuwabara offered, taking the dismissive grunt from Yusuke as his sign to continue, "_That's not why I called you anyway._"

"Then why did ya holla?" Yusuke asked. His icy-cold, no-tolerance tone would've made a non-acquaintance of his shiver, but for Kuwabara it was just something he expected from him.

Unless circumstances required otherwise Yusuke was normally cool, cold, and intolerant. He could generally be compassionate to those who he felt merciful towards like Akane or even show a warm fondness to the people close to him.

Kuwabara – on the other hand – was a long-time rival of his, and although that rivalry had dwindled down significantly over the years, one of them showing even the minuscule amount of fondness to the other just didn't feel like them, unless it was a one-off thing where they meet up after being out-of-touch with each other for a long time.

That was an exception to the rule.

The only times where Yusuke's subjective teasing attitude contradicted his usually intolerable nature was when he was in the driver-seat messing with someone. Other than that he preferred not to beat around the bush and just to dive right into the thick of things.

"If ya not just buzzing to talk another brainless sucker into joining your cult then now's the time to speak up."

"_No, of course not. But just for the record I'm always looking to set misguided ones on the right path, the path of honour. I just know it's not for you, man. Even tho I'm not the same jerk who thinks any fool who can throw a punch should follow the path I do; that doesn't mean I'm not proud or won't set as many misguided idiots as I can onto the path of redemption_!"

"Hey, that's all well and good. Sometime in the near future you should send me a postcard on your progress," Yusuke mumbled in a dull tone, 'I think I know who your first student can be,' The Mazoku-member mentally snorted, 'Right. Lard-ass could be Kuwabara's most improved student, tho I doubt his fat-ass would even want to put in the effort to change.'

"_Oh? Of course! Hey, I'll send ya an invitation to the first grand conference of the Cult of Honourable Samurais_," Kuwabara followed up on Yusuke's joke in a goofy, comical manner, "_Haha, I'll even reserve a special V.I.P seat for ya._"

"Thanks," Yusuke returned the faked gesture with a dry, feigned remark of appreciation, "You don't know what that means to me."

"_Aw, don't feel too warm and fuzzy," _Kuwabara mock-suggested, chuckling heartily,_ "I would've done the same for the other two,_" When Yusuke merely responded with a flat hum, Kuwabara slowly felt the hilarity finally drain away out of his system, his tone setting on a strictly professional, serious one, "_Anyway, I called ya to tell ya my spiritual awareness was going all sorts outta whack the other day. What the hell happened over there, man?_"

Ah. So they were finally getting somewhere with this conversation. At last. Yusuke couldn't tell what type of sigh escaped his lips, not when it could've gone two ways, relief or exasperation.

"That? That was nothin'. Just these chumps causing trouble around the block," Yusuke began to relay in a neutral tone. When he got an absorptive hum over the line from Kuwabara, he continued, "This kid who I started training from the start of last month named Ryoga took care of one of 'em for his bird. So if you see a fucked-up canal and park on the news, know that was him."

"_Yeah, I saw the news. I don't usually watch it, but Kurama came down to my dorm room earlier, and we sorta ended up watching it. The damage looked insane._" Kuwabara's voice dipped into low, quiet awe, but Yusuke was sure the damage to the park wasn't what shocked him, "_So, what do I call you now, Head Honcho, or Grandmaster Urameshi_?"

"Grandmaster Urameshi sounds fine," Yusuke said casually.

"_Feh, get real, Urameshi_," Kuwabara advised with a humorous, light tone.

Yusuke thought about making a quip involving his lady-friends, but decided against it. After all, they were just that, his _friends. _He didn't own Keiko and/or Ranma, period. If Yusuke even thought he did than he would really need to see a therapist because he would be taking Kuwabara's advice regarding him getting real.

"_Pfft, I almost feel bad for the little guy training under you,_" Kuwabara admitted, using an idle tone when he knew full well he meant it as a full-blown taunt, "_Poor guy doesn't even know he's being led down a stray path by an honourless punk,_" Yusuke could hear the mock-disappointment in Kuwabara's voice, "_For shame."_

"Heh! I can kick back and relax there. Ryo's a pro at that."

"_Huh_?" Kuwabara's lost voice could only depict his confusion.

"Hehe. Your ears ain't failing ya, Deaf. There's a golden chance Ryo can get lost in his own yard, much less just going to the shop, and I ain't kidding either," There it was. Yusuke's voice was full of nothing but hearty reminiscence.

"_Uhhh. Seriously?_" Kuwabara asked doubtfully. This kid sounded like a complete nimrod, "_C'mon, Urameshi. Now you're just pulling my leg, man. I mean, no one can be that stupid," _Kuwabara didn't know what else to say on the matter, "_Who gets lost in __their __own house for samurai's sake!"_

"Ryo," Yusuke deadpanned.

"_Huh?_" Kuwabara used this moment of silence to absorb this information, "_Just to make sure, he's rea-."_

"Yes," Yusuke interrupted with a hard, yet unamused, cool tone, "He's _that _bad, no sense of direction with the kid whatsoever."

*…*

The silence as his fatherly-like nemesis might say was absolute.

"_Whoa_," Kuwabara's gaping voice echoed faintly through the speaker piece and into Yusuke's ear, "_What an idiot_."

"Hey!"

"_Whoa!"_ Kuwabara's shocked-induced voice rang out followed by a couple of thuds from Yusuke's sudden raged-based shout. Thinking logically on the following noise, Yusuke figured Kuwabara most likely dropped his phone, and patiently waited for him to pick it up, "_Damn it, Urameshi! You almost scared the bejeebers out of me_."

"_Don't._" Yusuke started in a chillingly, sharp warning tone, "-I don't wanna hear that shit about Ryo, alright?"

"_Sheesh, Urameshi. The kid sorta is, tho, I was just sayin'._"

"Well then don't." Yusuke suggested, or at the very least _attempted _to, since his heavy, deep tone made his suggestion sound infinity more like a command.

"_But you can?_" Kuwabara's voice was filled with clear incredulity, "_Hypocrisy much, Urameshi?" _

"Course." Kuwabara could easily sense the conceit in Yusuke's voice, but sadly couldn't see the mischievous smirk on his face. Fortunately, the half demon's tone would perfectly portray his non-threatening Dennis-the-Menace-like nature, "He's my lil bro after all."

"_Hmm_." Predictably, Kuwabara only droned with a pensive tone. Whereas the Kuwabara of old might have let out a loud, incoherent flabbergasted noise to display his incomprehension, the present Kuwabara was far more reflexive, looking deeper in any off-handed statements to get a better interpretation of it, "_Damn, Urameshi. You're not kidding?_"

"Unless it's raining _kids, _then yeah, I ain't kidding."

"_Haha, that's funny, a mini Urameshi,_" Kuwabara jokingly mocked, "_What do I call the little guy, Urameshi-Jr or little Urameshi_?"

Yusuke blinked, "Yeah. Well actually, that ain't too far from the truth now that I think about it. We got the same skin complexion, same hair colour, it's just that his ain't slicked back like mine," He explained, chewing on that last similar detail shared between him and Ryoga, "Might get on that one tho," He said, "Kid even has a fang that looks like the brother of mine."

"_Whoa, creepy,_" Kuwabara hushed out in an awed murmur, then his normal, amiable tone broke through in a happy, friendly barb, "_Just be sure to warn me when there's a full moon so I can stay the hell away from your location, Wolf-guy_."

"Can do," Yusuke said with a smirk, leaning against the kitchen counter, "Not that it really matters. Our red hot tribe of wolves don't even attempt to recruit the ones of pussy-boys."

"_Roger that_! _Our cult of Honourable Samurais wouldn't even think of recruiting psychopathic murderers_," Kuwabara rose to the challenge in a cheerful manner, "_Geez, Urameshi. I bet puppies won't even look at your scum face. And their men's best friends, the traitors,_" Despite the cordial jibe, Kuwabara couldn't suppress the disgust in his voice.

"Right. I almost forgot you ain't a dog-guy," Yusuke joked.

"_How can I be?_" Kuwabara did nothing to hide the grimace painted on his face since it was clear in his voice, "_The stupid mutts have no sense of loyalty, unlike a cat. All you have to do to earn a mangy mutt's affection is give it a few pats on the head and some 'aww, you're such a good boy,' quotes and it'll lick your face clean,_" Kuwabara ranted.

Yusuke thought it was rather humorous that Kuwabara's extreme prejudice for dogs made him think of the self-proclaimed best friends of men animal as mere creatures.

"_Now with a cat you have to put in work to earn her loyalty, but once you have her loyalty, she'll stay loyal until one of you drops dead._" The Ginger-samurai's tone took on a decidedly lovey-dovey one of pure adoration.

…Yet Kuwabara's strong devotion to cats never blinded him of their genders. His love for cats almost made Yusuke think he thought of them as actual humans with the essential baggage that humans bring with them, such as emotion.

"_Aw. You don't know what you're missing, Urameshi. I've had to work so hard to earn my little_ _Eikichi's loyalty, but to tell you the truth, the ride was worth it. Now I know she'll never look at another man the same way she looks at me._"

"Heh, look at that. A girl staying loyal to Kuwabara," Yusuke mocked, "What're the odds, eh? Guess we can say there really is a god pulling the strings from above."

"_Pfft._ _Please_," Kuwabara scoffed off the jesting implication, "_My sweet Yukina-chan will always remain faithful to me… a faith a fully intend to repay with my own_," Kuwabara vowed with a shockingly weighty tone for him, "_I swear on my honour not only as a samurai, but also as a man I shall remain faithful to the beautiful Yukina. If I, in a lapse of sheer stupidity, break this vow, than I, __Kazuma Kuwabara__, shall commit seppuku_."

"Whoa, deep," This time it was Yusuke's turn to sound awed at Kuwabara's immense devotion to Yukina.

A couple of things stuck Yusuke at odds.

One, Kuwabara really needed to laid off the cheesy speeches.

And two, his infatuation for Yukina was off-the-chain.

"I wouldn't go that far, but yeah, I feel ya."

"_Humph,_" Kuwabara huffed in disdain, "_I wouldn't expect you to understand our love. It exceeds even the heavens themselves, Urameshi. The big guy sitting contently on his high horse up in the big white fluffy sky has no say whatsoever on the earth-shattering bond shared between my beloved and I._"

"Right," Yusuke smirked, "Bet you ain't fucked her tho."

"_Really?_" Kuwabara deadpanned, "_There's more to love than just sex, Urameshi_."

For once Yusuke had to agree with the romantic yet good-natured young man, "Even tho I wanna say 'that means no, you haven't screwed your bird,' so bad it's not even funny, I gotta agree with ya on that one. Relationships are built on more than just fucking your partner stupid," He swiftly plugged up his nostrils as a dirty thought involving him and his lady-friends flashed through his head, "But the fucking part is definitely a bonus."

"_Whoa, spooky; I'm on the same page as Urameshi,_" Kuwabara purposefully put on an awed tone.

"A snow ball musta survived in hell," Yusuke coolly followed up on Kuwabara's joke, eliciting a laugh from his long-time friend. While they were still on the topic of One-wonder relationships, Kuwabara apparently figured he would shift the subject in the form of a question on Yusuke to get some insight on his friend's love life.

"_What about you, man?"_

"What 'bout me?"

"_You know what I mean._"

"No, I really don't, or have you forgotten who the one with the Oracle-abilities is?"

"_No, you punk. I just thought you would know… you know, being that it came from me… A man," _Kuwabara's wavered a bit on the edge of uncertainty,_ "One man to another,_" Yusuke couldn't resist the temptation to palm his face.

"Aw, no. You're not seriously doing this."

"_I am," _Kuwabara clarified firmly, "_It's time we had ourselves a man-to-man talk._"

"Shit."

"_What's your problem, Urameshi?_" Kuwabara already knew how rhetorical the question was, but he so desperately wanted to reassure himself of something, "_You act like you don't wanna tie the knot with Keiko. What's the matter, afraid you're gonna get cold feet at the altar? Or maybe… ah_!" Kuwabara gasped as if he had just discovered a shocking revelation, "_Don't tell me you're batting for the other team._"

Oh. Hell, no. Kuwabara did _not _just pull out the fruit card.

"Really? Did you actually just try to pull that card on me? That's too stupid to respond to," Translation: fat chance of that ever happening, "What I will say tho, is my love-life is none of your damn beeswax."

"_Hmm,_" It was near impossible for Yusuke to read Kuwabara's expression over the phone when all the half-demon had to go on was a cryptic hum, "_I know, I know, I really shouldn't try and butt in on your love-life, I… just thought maybe… ugh,_" Kuwabara's voice conspicuously expressed his discomfort of explaining his reasons for prying into Yusuke's business.

Somehow, despite the clear annoyance Kuwabara's dwelling on a sentence aroused in him, Yusuke managed to wait, albeit with unquenchable impatience on his features, for Kuwabara to gather his thoughts.

It was these moments of leniency which always made Yusuke scratch his scalp in confusion, wondering what had come over him in such a foreign period of time.

"_Okay, it's like this_," Thank _god_, Kuwabara had finally gathered enough wits to drop the bomb in a way that would soften the impact. Call him foolish, but Kuwabara just couldn't for the life of him be so callously blunt like his friends, Yusuke and Hiei, were, "_You know how women ain't easy to score nowadays, right_?"

"I'm aware you can't just order a broad online," Yusuke clarified, doing absolutely nothing to disguise the boredom in his tone, "The point… _Please_."

"_The point is what if Keiko decides, 'Geez, he's taking long. I know! I'll just put myself out there. There's plenty of college-chumps looking my way, haha'!" _Despite Kuwabara mock-impersonation of Keiko's voice, he still gave Yusuke food for thought, "_See! It may be easy for her to find another mate, but you as a man can't just go, 'Oh well, plenty more fish in the sea where that one came from.' I'm just sayin', you might want to settle while you till can, man." _

"Look you One-woman wonder, _you_ may have all the intentions of shutting yourself off from bachelorhood from the get-go, but I don't," Yusuke told him dispassionately, his voice dipping into his favourite tone; sarcasm, "It ain't like I ain't got my whole life ahead of me, is it? Oh, right. I almost forgot; I have. So drop it. Got it?"

Even though the thought of Keiko dating anyone else other than him gave him a queasy feeling Yusuke wasn't naïve enough to believe that wouldn't happen when he and his childhood sweetheart had spent a lot of their time not seeing each other.

Granted, circumstances kept them apart (Yusuke's time in Makai and now Keiko's time in Uni), but that still doesn't prohibit them from meeting and forming bonds with other people.

With their unintentional break from one another, it essentially freed them to interact with other people, thereby making new friends, creating bonds with said friends, and even discovering how compatible they are with their new friends than they were to each other.

"_Hmm. Not surprised at all to hear that from you to tell you the truth."_

Oh. That sounded like Kuwabara's well-known sense of precognition gave him a nosey insight on a future which he had no right looking into.

"How so? Please, don't let my nagging voice stop ya from sharing with the audience," Yusuke remarked dryly.

"_I got a vision of you with some brown haired chick doing…_ _Err_, _uhm_," Kuwabara's voice took on a definite awkward low, but noticeable squeak, "-_Eighteen rated stuff not meant for the innocent eyes of pure cats and children._"

Whoa. Despite the sugar-coating the implications were incredibly easy to understand. Just… Ew. He had a vision of the future of his close friend giving it to some brown-haired girl.

"Aw, geez," Yusuke grimaced, "I didn't need to hear that."

"_Hehe,"_ Kuwabara laughed weakly, "Sorry, but… _you asked for it. I just… couldn't help it. I was in class one day, an-._"

"And yeah, you imagined me in a porno to jack-off to quell your boredom. I get it! I don't need a summary laid out at my feet," Yusuke said impatiently.

"_Hey!_" Kuwabara admonished, his voice holding nothing more but miff, "_I did not jack off to your vision. There's only one image that can get me turned on, and I'm one hundr-, no, __two-thousand__ percent sure you or your cheap fling ain't even in the equation_. _So don't get your panties in a bunch_."

"Oh!" Yusuke said pleasantly, "Well there goes my nightmares."

"_Humph."_

The topic of one-hit relationships remaining true forever fell off course and merely died out, something of which Yusuke was certainly grateful for. Relationships were touchy in general, but with Kuwabara's otherworldly ability to see a glimpse of the future it just made the subject all the more hypersensitive.

_Great_. Now Yusuke would be racking his brain to figure out which girl he would be giving the 'D' to may be on his mind.

Damn Kuwabara and his spoiler alerts.

Fortunately, Kuwabara most likely sensed Yusuke's ire, which was actually a possibility for him, because he shifted the topic of conversation back onto its original source.

"_Anyway, going back to those creeps who attacked your neighbourhood,_" Kuwabara said with a thoughtful tone, "_The news reporters picked up on a cyborg that_ _got taken back to the scrap-yard in a park that looked more like a wasteland. Now that you told me that kid who you was training done the damage, I figured he also done the deed._"

"Yep," Yusuke did nothing to hide the excessive conceit in his voice. He was so proud of his student, "They grow up so fast."

"_Heh, I wouldn't know… yet._" Meaning when Kuwabara rounded up his own loyal followers to lead on the Path of the Honourable Samurai, he would know, but that was beside the point, "_I'm pretty sure that cyborg guy was in the coots with those other creeps, s-."_

"I smoked 'em," Yusuke said before the full question could fully leave Kuwabara's lips, an inexpressive mask of unbreakable indestructibility on his face. Dead silence now met his ear, "Well… Me and Hiei did."

Silence still reigned supreme.

"_Whoa,_" Kuwabara breathed out audibly. There was nothing more to say, except point out the obvious, "_You really need to work on your grammar, Urameshi._"

An stoic expression of puzzlement found its way onto Yusuke's face.

"Eh?"

"_Yep!_" Kuwabara chirped, his tone taking on a hint of condescending silliness, "_It's 'Hiei and I,' not 'me and Hiei'." _Kuwabara snickered, unaware to the gaping expression now on Yusuke's face, "_Geez, Urameshi. How can you not know that? That's basic middle school stuff, haha_."

Oh, god. It happened. The day Yusuke thought would never occur even in a million years.

The day when Kuwabara corrected him on his grammar or anything based on actual book intelligence.

"_Hahaha,_" Kuwabara continued to guffaw at Yusuke's expertise, "_Err, uhm._ _What's that? You say_ _Eikichi's got your tongue_? _Aw_, _my Eikichi's so smart,_" The Ginger-warrior mock-cooed, "_Unlike a certain other guy I know. Hmm, what's his name again? Oh, right! I'm already talking to him._"

Yusuke pouted, "Yeah. That's right, Dexter, laugh it up," He urged, and Kuwabara did so even if he did hear the sarcasm in Yusuke's voice, "Please. Be my guest. I'm sure the friendly neighbourhood feds can take a short break outta their donut-and-coffee break to snoop for clues to crack the case behind a laughing doofus' disappearance."

Kuwabara's mood sobered in a heartbeat. Even if the intended threat was meant as a half-hearted joke, Kuwabara found the way Yusuke said it in such an expressionless manner basically bringing a knife down and slicing through his funny bone.

"_Hmm,_" Kuwabara's voice echoed his disapproval, "_Why'd you guys do it? I mean, I get that they were supposedly targeting your friend or brother, but to actually take a life, multiple ones at that…!" _Kuwabara let out a spooked sound, "_That's cold, Urameshi_."

"They weren't just targeting, Ryo tho," Yusuke said. He wasn't defending his actions, he was just stating the truth. That was the kind of guy he was. He may try and attempt to justify his reasons to himself, but to someone else Yusuke just couldn't find it in him to be anything else other than straight up.

"_Really?_"

"Yeah."

"_Uhm_," Kuwabara said pensively, "_Now that I think about it I remember getting in touch with Yukina-chan. You know, just to let her know how my college work's going and stuff_."

"Oh, yeah," Yusuke had a sneaky suspicion where this was going but merely chose to feign interest, "And what did she say?"

"_Pfft, I'm sure you already know._"

"You got me. I'm the one who dropped Red off there in the first place."

"_Red? Heh, is that your nickname for that Ranma-kid who my Yukina-chan's taken a shine to?_"

"Hey! Look who's catching on."

"_Ha! I can read you like a book!" _Kuwabara bragged, "_What you gonna tell me next? You got a little crush on… err, her… him… her, hi-." _So, it was clear from Kuwabara's sudden discomfort regarding Ranma's gender Yukina had at least slightly briefed him about Ranma's little problem.

"Ah. So you know of Red's little skeleton-in-the-closet," Yusuke chuckled, "Good for you."

"_Yeah. She didn't give me the whole story, but I got enough clues with how cautious she sounded when trying to clarify her friend's dilemma_," Kuwabara explained, chuckling sheepishly, "_Uhhhh. I may have sorta assumed that Ranma-kid was a girl just by a principle sorta thing._"

Yusuke could understand that since fundamentally, it was girls hanging around with other girls and boys doing likewise. It had been that way since the dawn-of-time. Sure, there were some noticeable exceptions, but when there was an exempt to that formula, it meant either one of two things.

One: The girl and boy in question were dating.

Or, Two: They weren't dating because they both batted for the same team.

"No biggie. Shit happens," Yusuke brushed off Kuwabara's mistake.

"_Apparently, shit happened to he…hi-. Ugh,_" Kuwabara gave up with a hard grunt of frustration, "_I'm just going to call Yukina-chan's friend 'kid' for now_."

"If it helps, know she was born a boy, but became a she-boy after falling into some voodoo pond up in China."

"_No way. There's actually a cursed spring in China_?"

"Yeah. The joint's called Jusenkyo. It's supposedly littered with a bunch of other voodoo ponds, each one a messed-up tribute to something which drowned in it something odd years. Point is, you fall in one of 'em, you're screwed to take on the appearance of whatever was stupid enough to drown in there whenever cold water hits ya, hot water reverses the effect."

"_Whoa,_" Kuwabara murmured, "_Creepy, cursed forever. I kinda feel bad for Yukina-chan's friend._"

"Oh I wouldn't." Yusuke mumbled with a smirk.

"_Huh? Did you say something, Urameshi_?"

"Me? Na. You were saying tho."

"_Yeah,_" Kuwabara slowly confirmed in an incredulous tone, "_So I'm guessing the kid's curse must've had something to do with these creeps showing up in your neighbourhood,_" Kuwabara said, "_I wouldn't be surprised to hear that Ryoga-kid of yours also has a curse._"

"He does. He turns into a small piglet at the drop of cold water."

"_Ouch. Roast pork."_

"A four-eyed guy turns into a duck and Red's 'pops' turns into a panda," Yusuke said, slapping his hand against his face, "Lard-ass has some convenient magic trick he uses to pull a sign from his ass whenever he turns into a panda. 'Till dunno how the fuck he does that."

"_Haha_! _It seems like you landed yourself in the crazy district,_" Kuwabara taunted jovially.

"Gah. Don't remind me," Yusuke grunted with his usual annoyance, idly looking up at the ceiling, "I'm till trying to pretend like setting up stay here weren't such a bad idea to help Ryo out of his eternal emo phase."

"_Seems like harmless curses to me._"

"That's 'cause they are, more or less."

"_Why did those jerks even bother attacking them in the first place? It seems pointless to me._"

"It is, but that didn't matter to 'em. They're douches who think any fool with a curse who breaks their code-of-conduct should go nighty-night. Permanently."

"_Tch_. _They sound like a bunch of elitist-bastards,"_ Kuwabara was well-aware of how irony that statement sounded, but he was on hand to further elucidate on his statement. "_I mean, it's okay to have faith in a code you believe with all your heart-and-soul that others should follow, but to shove it down their throats in such a way is just…"_ There was only one word in Kuwabara's vocabulary to strongly express his sheer contempt for such people.

"-_Dishonourable.._."

"Then you can see why me an-."

"_Grammar, Urameshi."_

"Fuck-off, prick," Yusuke retorted, "You can see why me and Hie-. Oh I'm sorry, _Hiei and I _had to ice their punk-asses."

Another short, but noticeable extended period of silence occurred, but it was something Yusuke already expected. There were other reasons beside being in college why Yusuke didn't round up Kuwabara to assist him in his self-given - no-profit – mission.

"_I guess I can…" _Kuwabara paused, "_Sort of see your point, Urameshi_, _even if it goes against my code to kill. The faithful ones of the Code-of-Honour reserve life and tr-."_

"Look you Tree-hugger, I ain't stupid. So you don't like doing the deed, okay, fair enough, and you like to see the good in folks even if it ain't noticeable. That's dandy. It's not like you can stop being you," Yusuke explained, being fair to the opposing side of his ideology.

"_So in other words, you do you and I do me," _Kuwabara summed up.

"That's gist of it. Yeah."

"_Ahhhh."_ Kuwabara sighed, "_This world is too full of hatred._" Yusuke blinked, mildly surprised to hear such an insight opinion come from Kuwabara's mouth, "_One day, Urameshi. I, Kazuma Kuwabara, will find a way to diminish this hatred, even if it kills me_."

"_Heh_. Betta start planning your funeral. It's been swell knowing ya."

"_Yeah. Whatever,_" Kuwabara said in a dismissal tone, "_Anyway, I'm going to fly, 'cause unlike you, Punk… I have a life._"

Yusuke glared immensely, just barely holding himself back from his crushing his phone in his grip, "I'm gonna hang up now bee-four I end up crushing my cell," He had to hold the phone away from his ear as a loud, goofy chortle basically exploded through the speaker, "_Gah. _Ever heard of an indoor voice, bitch?"

"_Haha. Okay, I'll stop, now. Ta-d-. Oh. I almost forgot. Urameshi,_" Kuwabara's voice suddenly dropped from that humorous, joking tone it was just using to a deadly serious one, "_Just one more thing now. No jokes, I swear._"

Yusuke pinched the space in between his nose.

"If this is just another one of your shenanigans, I'm hanging up."

"_It's not_." Kuwabara just promised in a no-nonsense deadpan voice.

Against his better judgement Yusuke decided to hear Kuwabara out.

"Ack. I know I'm gonna regret this soon enough but just let whatever monkey's on your chest off."

"_Thanks_," Kuwabara said.

Yusuke could audibly hear Kuwabara breathing hard through his nostrils.

This was it.

"_GET A JOB_!"

Yusuke furiously flipped his phone down, hanging up on Kuwabara in a rage.

"Knew it!" He yelled, though after a moment he scratched his head and let out a sigh, "Till ended up walking into that one tho," Goddamn it, Kuwabara. Since when did he get so _good _at trolling? That was Yusuke's shtick.

Yusuke's ringtone hit his ears immediately followed by the odd tingling sensation on his clenched fist via the vibrations of his phone.

"_If _this is _him _I swear I'm matching down to Tokyo to break my foot off his _ass_," Yusuke raged, but a quick glance at the caller-ID put his anger on hold for suspicion to take the stage, "Eh? What's he hollering f-." He felt like an idiot was asking himself, "Aw, _duh_. I told Kuwabara, aka Big Mouth on Campus," Groaning, Yusuke flipped up his phone and brought it back to his ear.

"S'up, Kurama? If this is about me getting the sack from work, then _don't even _bother. I've already had enough of that shit from one dumbass today. Getting lectured from a Poindexter ain't exactly any better, you know."

"_Why Yusuke, I'm almost appealed that you would think so low of me,_" In a soft-voice, Kurama, more commonly known as Shuichi Minamino, lightly chastised him.

"Uh-Uh." Yusuke languidly droned out to express his distrust of Shuichi's intentions for phoning him. He could never be too sure with Shuichi. He had his subtle ways of fucking with people via poking fun at their misfortunes under the guise of polite concern.

"_I was merely calling to see how you're doing, old friend. I regret to say Kuwabara has informed me of your departure from your more recent_ _occupation,_" Ugh. There it was. He was subtly poking fun at Yusuke's misfortune. Was that… chuckling Yusuke could hear underneath Kurama's breath.

"_It is a shame that you felt you had to… part ways from your previous occupation. Rest assured, I neither have an interior motive nor do I find your incompetence amusing,_" Yusuke gritted his teeth. Okay, Kurama was pushing it.

He was basically telling Yusuke how much he sucked at holding down a job, but covering it up by informing Yusuke he didn't find anything funny about Yusuke's flaws._ :/ - _BULLSHIT. That crafty old fox knew exactly what he was doing.

"_I_, _however, offer you my sincerest condolences for your failed project. Let this serve as a lesson that you can learn from, Yusuke. And, god forbid, whichever_ _administrator may hire you in the near future, your incompetence won't cause him to reevaluate your skills and release you from your contact-._"

Yusuke ended the conversation via the closing of his now folded-down phone in a rage.

Well, there was one lesson he learned from all of this.

That was simply, friends won't think twice to poke fun at your expertise.

_"Humph. Friends._ Who needs 'em?"

* * *

><p><strong>Power-levels.<strong>

**Hiei - Upper S-class - Destructive power - 20% Country level plus - Speed - Lightning **

**Kurama - Upper S-class in Yoko form - Max Destructive power - Small **Continent l**evel - Human form - low S-class - Destructive power - Island level**

**Kuwabara - Middle S-class - Destructive power - Island level plus **

**Ranma - low A-class - Destructive power - Small City level - Speed - M****assively Hyper sonic (She was able to intercept Yusuke's practice punch) - ****Shackled-Ranma - Mid C-class - Small Building level -**


	17. Day of Reckoning

**Disclaimer: YuYu Hakusho or Ranma 1/2 or The Legend of Zelda**

**For those of you interested I have a YuYu Hakusho/Familiar of Zero crossover story up titled, "The Walking Terminator of Hell." You can find that in my profile.**

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><p>Ranma just stood in an identical-looking furo to the one she had been in a few times before with clear trepidation on her face. It wasn't like she didn't want to be a guy again. On the contrary, she'd been demanding to be a guy all of last night ago, going as far as to snap at Yusuke-chan when he asked her if she could wait until she reached his place to be a guy again.<p>

"Aw. What am I sweating for?" Ranma asked herself with immeasurable fury across her brow, staring at the reflection of her naked form in the hot streaming water of the bathtub of Genkai's furo.

Her answer came in the form of an image of a smirking Yusuke-chan appearing in the surface of the water. All of a sudden stepping into hot boiling water or anything of heat substance didn't feel like the best thing to do at the moment with her body temperature readily matching anything even remotely related to heat.

A look of frustrated shame fell over Ranma's face. She quickly sat down on the small stool Genkai had provided so anyone of the trio could have a comfortable time rinsing themselves off before jumping into the tub. Once Ranma's butt hit the chair, she wasted no time clamping her legs shut.

"Dolt," She muttered, turning her nose up into the air, trying to replace her insecurity with arrogance, "Humph. It ain't my fault Yusuke-chan's a big sexy hunk of man-meat!" She randomly shivered as if the spirits from the great beyond was trying to tell her something.

Whoa, now that was freaky, "Man. Now what did I do to tick karma off?" Ranma moaned despondently, still staring hesitantly at the unmoving steaming water as if it was going to rise up and attack her at any given minute, "I ain't got time for this. I 'till hafta find some way to sneak sum training in under Granny's nose."

Ranma hummed in a thoughtful manner, a finger caressing her little chin. She prodded for a moment if her arousal would go away if she turned back into a guy, but quickly waved away that idea when she remembered how annoyed she was with herself for feeling sweaty just when her crush popped up into her mind yesterday.

Desperately wanting to ease her mind off of her crush so she wouldn't feel aroused by her memory of him when she turned back into a guy, Ranma did the only thing she could; she replayed her fight from last night.

"Stupid crummy Sachi," Ranma grumbled, trying to shift her mind onto something else not related to her crush, "Ohhh. She was so lucky last night. If she hadn't a' gotten in those sucker punches on me I betcha I woulda smashed her to the milky-way, humph!" She crossed her arms, a sour expression on her face.

A deadpanned expression fell on Ranma's face when she realized how inaccurate her previous witty statement was, "Well I guess that should be sucker kicks for lady-kicks-a lot." Ranma sighed, "Wonder why she wasn't ta keen on the idea of dirtying her hands, hmm," Ranma crossed her arms, a contemplative expression on her face.

"She does seem like one of those high-profile ladies, so mebbies she didn't wanna break a nail or sumthin," A devious smirk crossed Ranma's face at her guess, "Guess I know where I'm aiming at next time we butt heads."

And that would be the time she would emerge victorious. Sachiko might have gotten the better of her then but come round two Ranma would have her number.

Hidden guilt swelled up inside of Ranma.

"Ooooo," Ranma pouted, "Stupid knuckleheaded conscious of mine."

She shook her head in a determined manner, trying to forcibly quell the guilt in the pit of her stomach by telling herself repeatedly that she would've kicked Sachiko's little spoiled princess behind even if Yusuke hadn't of showed up, but it was all for naught. Her persistent words didn't even sound like they were coming out in her voice, even in her head.

"Oh-kay, damn it! So Sachi woulda wrecked my ass had Yusuke-chan not shown up to pull me outta the frying pan!" Ranma quipped heatedly, throwing her hands into the air, "Happy now, ya nincompoop?!" Oddly enough, she did feel better, but even still, karma was a bitch.

"Guess I should get this over with now," Before she lost her nerve and chickened out again, "Aw, to hell with it! I'm sure I'll be dandy after a dip in sum hot water!" Ranma said optimistically, leaping up to her feet and cannonballing into the warm water, resulting in a huge splash.

A crop of black hair tied tightly in a braid shot up out of the remaining water still in the tub with a combination of sprinkles and a relieved sigh flowing through the air.

"Ah. Now that feels,-" Ranma stopped himself before he could finish his sentence, a dumbed look of confusion gracing his face, "Hm. Now dat I think 'bout it, I dunno how it feels," An expression of bored annoyance graced Ranma's face.

In the past it had always felt as if Ranma had won the lottery when he had landed himself in hot water.

…In the past.

…When he… she lived with the Tendos, a family which all had expectations of him/her being a man, no matter what. Probably with the exception of Kasumi, (and most likely Nabiki since she usually disregarded him), everyone anticipated to see him/her as a guy, not a rebellious girl who liked a guy.

Pop, Mr Tendo, or even Tomboy had never taken into consideration what he/she wanted, who he/she wanted to be, or what he/she wanted to do with his/her life.

…It was as if they had control of his/her life.

Ranma bitterly clenched his fist with gnashed teeth of sheer frustration, "What the hell did they take me fer, anyway, a puppet?" A deadpanned expression fell on his face, "If all attendants don't raise their hands, I know one that will like she doesn't care." Goddamn it Nabs.

It was pretty depressing how much shame the admittance brought to the once prideful martial artist. He/she let a schoolgirl - a normal one as powerful as a normal human being could be - dominate him, and all because he/she was scared to fight back in case he/she badly injured Nabs.

Did Ranma really have so-little faith in his/her own self-control?

More shame swelled up inside of him/her when Ranma remembered one rainy day in the Tendo-residence when all of his clothes were dirty and couldn't be washed. He allowed Nabiki to impose herself on him/her as she commanded him to put on girl's clothes so he/she wouldn't be running around naked in the house. Conveniently, he/she was a girl that day, but even still, having relented to Nabiki's orders hurt his pride.

"Just gotta take it with a grain of salt," Ranma mumbled, his tone bored, but his eyes held sorrow and regret. Why couldn't he/she have been more like Yusuke? It wasn't like Ranma enjoyed getting ordered around, it was just that he was afraid of losing his temper and getting discriminated against because of it. So in the end he accommodates.

"Gah! Why couldn't 'em lousy control freaks have been more like Granny and Yukina-chan!?" Ranma stressed with a wince and exasperated ruffle of his hair.

That was why he was here and not there. Thanks to Yusuke. Not for the first time Ranma found himself/herself mentally patting Yusuke on the back for a job well done. It was refreshing to wake up in whatever gender he/she happened to be in and not receive judgemental eyes from his/her fellow residents. They would just greet Ranma in their usual way, and the three would carry on with their day. Simple.

The more this happened, the more Ranma's mind came off of the self-made mandatory rule that he had to be a guy, to the point he involuntarily stayed as a girl a whole day, and never bothered to change.

In fact the only time she wanted to be a guy was yesterday, and that was just a feeble attempt to deny she had any feelings remotely romantic for Yusuke-chan but was that for him.

What did he want really?

"A bowl of Yu-chan creamy delight…" The impulsive gender-changing teen mumbled automatically, allowing his body to relax in the bathtub, sliding down until the water was level with his chin, his eyes lowering shut as he began to drift away to a blissful fantasy.

* * *

><p>The shadows of the night were relatively overcome by the beautiful, flashy lights of tall buildings and mesmerizing billboards.<p>

A diminutive redhead drank in all the artistic lights with a pleasant smile on her face. It was as if everything else didn't even exist as she stood in this ostentatious world, all except for her and that dashing young man from across the road, looking at her with cool eyes full of acceptance.

Her heart raced a million miles per second.

"Yu-chan."

She breathlessly murmured, heart in her mouth as her crush took a couple of teasing steps toward her. Inch by inch, the green clad youngster who had captured her heart neared her, and with each step he took the feisty redhead could feel the drumming of her heart beat increase in her ears. Her crush really did know how to keep the suspense going.

"Would-cha just bring yer butt here already?" Ranma commanded.

Ah. Now there was a lovely sight for one Ranma Saotome to see. It was almost as good as eating ice cream. It was her Yusuke-chan obeying her order via flashing forward in an unbelievable burst of immense speed no one other than Ranma would be able to follow.

"Red."

Her eyes fluttered delicately and she drew in a short breath at the soft call of her pep-name. She shyly lay her hand upon the spot where her heart used to reside since it was standing in front of her, a loving smile on his face.

"Whatever you need, now's the time to lay it on the table, ya big stud."

She told him in her best playacting voice, diverting her eyes when she could feel the heat rushing to her head from seeing Yusuke's heart-warming grin hardening into a complimentary fanged smirk.

"Heh. I feel humbled."

"E-Err, oh-kay," She passively accepted with an awkward expression on her face, building up enough courage to look Yusuke in the eyes, "Would it be too much to ask why, your majesty?" She was hoping that by being snarky, she would be able to at least delay the melting of her body from being in Yusuke's warm presence.

'Aw. No dice. I 'till feel like I'm baking out in paradise around here.'

She was meant to look frustrated, but that exotic scent, that rhythmic, easy-flowing breathe gently hitting her ear like a soothing tidal wave, and those all-adoring brown orbs staring passionately down on her petite form kept the redhead in dreamland.

"Aww. Ya really know what buttons to press on a lady, don't-cha RRRRRRR~Romeo?" Ranma teased. Situations such as these could essentially be related to playing the raffle for one Ranma Saotome.

If she didn't try, she wouldn't get her reward. And her reward just so happened to be a flustered, awkwardly grinning Yusuke. That embarrassed motion of rubbing the back of his head with his hand went majestically well with his sheepish grin in Ranma's opinion.

"Don't tell me. You're humbled, right?" Ranma predicted with a dry smile.

Yusuke blinked, seemingly surprised as his dumbfounded expression spoke volumes, "Whoa! How'd ya figure that one out?"

Ranma stifled a chuckle, putting on a mock-irony expression of the obvious, before sarcastically answering Yusuke's question, "I'm telepathist."

Yusuke smirked, "You ain't the complete package, but you're semi at least," His smirk softened into a wide, cheery goofy smile that nearly drained the strength in Ranma's knees away, "And that's gotta count for sumthin'!"

A blank expression of incomprehension marked Ranma's blinking eyed face, "Ahuh. Not sure how ya came to that one Doctor Decider," She quipped, placing her hands on her hips, her tone now exclusively matter-of-fact, "Why don't-cha try going over on that one again. It works for me."

Yusuke let out a short, brief chuckle regardless of the fact that he was the subject of friendly ridicule, "Why take a U-turn elsewhere when ya' know you're in the 'right-lane'?" He retorted, now bellowing out a cruel laugh at Ranma's expertise.

Ranma huffed with a deep sulky, petulant expression on her face, never one to back down from a challenge, "Well yer not exactly leaving tire-trails to your destination, ya blockhead," Ranma retaliated, rebounding the imaginary comeback ball back in Yusuke's court as she crossed her arms with an impatient expression on her face, "Just spill it already."

Yusuke stopped laughing in Ranma's face to instead show her a secretive smile; the kind of grin one would use when they knew something they just knew with one hundred percent certainty that their close friend wanted to know, "You dunno why I feel flattened."

Ranma's impatience morphed into deadpanned nonchalance, "Is that all ya were really riding on?" When Yusuke nodded with a wide grin on his face, Ranma returned it with a particularly delightful, overconfident smirk, "I can think of a few reasons. The prime one coming right off the top of my head being that ya finally woke up and smelled the coffee. Now you realize just how mind-blowing your partner-in-whoop ass is," She bragged, presenting herself as if she was on show in a flourish, "Heh. It was a long-time coming buddy, but nonetheless, I'll take your butt-mooches like a pro, 'cause I'm, after all, humble."

The following Yusuke noise made clearly indicated he was amused, again. Only this time, instead of sniggering cruelly at Ranma's face, the young man guffawed with her, eliciting a proud smile from Ranma, "The funny thing about that is, I totally think you're humble." Well, the smile was on her face until Yusuke spoke... that was.

"Eh? Whaddya mean, Yu-chan?"

Her eyes widened and the cheeks were rapidly filled with warmth when her entire body was eclipsed by a shadow. Her body froze, and her mind blanked out after being on the fritz trying to form a coherent sentence for her to say in this almost intimate scenario.

"Whoa, there Cowboy! Ever heard of a thing called personal space? Hehehe," Ranma weakly laughed, hoping by cracking a joke she could better cope with her feelings skyrocketing to the surface, 'Till, all dis huddle-crap is twistin' my darn heart in flippin' knots.'

"You think you've got my flattened feeling cracked, enit little missy?" Yusuke rhetorically asked, a cheeky, taunting grin on his face, before he sheepishly scratched his cheek with his index finger, "Well, you're partly correct in that I do think I've got a high-flying partner in front of me. Ya just think ya got it all, but that's not the same as actually getting it all, get it?"

Ranma blinked, "Yeah... Ya sorta lost me back at the turn ya took in riddle-town," She said, tightening her face as she took in Yusuke's scent, 'Aw, today just had to be the day Mr Troll used his best old ghoul-spray, the tricky bastard.'

Her mind shut down again when Yusuke began lowering his head, positioning it so his lips could be literally across the road from Ranma's, "U-Uhm. E-Err. W-Wait a s-sec. I-. E-Err," Her fears were subtly put to rest when Yusuke moved his head to her ear, showing that maybe he didn't have any intentions of laying a wet one on her just yet.

"Ya most likely assumed I thought of ya as an asset and not as a liability 'cause I recognized ya as my equal," His warm breath on her ear sent a strange, but nice tingling sensation all over her body, "That's where you fail. It's not 'cause I recognize you as my equal as to why I feel humbled to be partnered up with ya. I don't."

Ranma felt a tremendous, internal blow hammer away at her heart at Yusuke's flat confession.

"Y-."

"-It's 'cause in reality, you're my better," Yusuke just finished with an undertone of smugness, drawing a surprised gasp from Ranma, "Your ears don't need waxing, babe. It is what it is. I feel like I've just won the lottery to be alongside someone as powerful as you."

Ranma felt her eyes fill with watery moisture.

"Aw, is little Red crying?"

"S-Shut up! I-I ain't crying ya stupid jerk!" Ranma insisted angrily, knocking her crush back with a punch to his arm.

"Ouch!" That wince of agony was like music to Ranma's ears, the redhead watching Yusuke massage his arm with a satisfied grin, "Always the tsundere eh?"

Roguishly shaking her head, Ranma affectionately insulted her crush as if it would really push him away, "You idiot."

A gentle silence of relaxing tranquillity settled between the two, mostly spent with Ranma admiring Yusuke's impervious ability to return to his cocky demeanour, crossed arms and all, despite the touching, romantic moment the two just shared. For someone like Ranma, who was just so socially inept with girls, Yusuke's detached approach toward the opposite sex was truly inspirational. Even as the petite redhead stood there gazing at Yusuke with misty, sparkling eyes of admiration she never realized she had thought of herself as a teen girl in her observation of Yusuke instead of a macho, stereotypical male jock.

'Yusuke-chan.'

"Ranma."

The serious call of her birth name as opposed to her pet name that her crush usually referred to her as got Ranma to tense up.

"Y-Yeah, Yu-chan? W-What's buggin' ya?"

"Get ready," He advised.

As if a switch was turned, the flashing lights of the billboards went out to make way for the exquisite magnificence of an eclipsing sun, unveiling a horde of black suited ninjas assembled in a military formation.

"...Oh." Lifting up an index finger, Ranma bluntly pointed at the assembled goon squad, "I get it. They might be a problem."

With his chest swelling up from the huge breath of air he inhaled, Yusuke roared with bold bravado, "C'MON THEN YA COCKROACHES! I'LL HAVE YA!" Dashing forward with blistering pace, Yusuke distinctly extended his fists, starting with his weaker left hand, then his dominant right, "YA CAN SAY HELLO TO MY LIL FRIENDS, SCREW, AND YOU, FUCKERS!"

Waggishly giving her head a good shake, Ranma effortlessly caught up to Yusuke regardless of the two second head-start he got, "Not without me ya don't, ya goofball," Actually passing Yusuke so he was watching her ass, (something he certainly inclined to), Ranma virtually bull-tackled dozens upon dozens of ninjas, sending them soaring throughout the air from the force she packed into her charge, "Whoopsy daisy! Sorry, Mr ninjas. Not 'xactly the best at containing myself when I really cut loose! I betta tho, 'cuz I wouldn't want Yu-chan missin' out on all the fun."

Those fears of hers were put to rest by the muscular back that touched her smooth one after another huge amount of the enemy's forces were sent hurtling to mars, "Who's gonna miss out?" Yusuke asked with a smirk.

Sighing blissfully, Ranma rolled her eyes and head over her shoulder slightly to look at the young man who had her back securely covered, "Not ya, loverboy," She replied playfully, earning herself a backward spank on her rear, making her blush, "So, should we clean house buddy? I'm eager to get ya home now," 'And get into your pants. 'Cuz ya know what they say, early bird gets the worm.'

"Yep. You go that way, and-."

"And you go dat-O-way!"

"Heh. Now you're speaking my language."

"When wasn't I?"

"Point made."

Not even giving their opponents time to draw their weapons, the warrior couple of Ranma and Yusuke pounced, tearing the ninja asunder without even so much as breaking a sweat. The shinobi-troops' howls of agony were completely ignored by their tormentors, and the devastation the two lovebirds caused was nonexistent to their eyes. The lovebirds were in paradise, willingly helping each other out not because they needed help, but because they wanted to tag-team a particularly unfortunate sap.

Basically gliding across from Ranma after brutally clotheslining a poor bastard into a skyscraper, collapsing it from the force of his blow, Yusuke smiled lovingly, "I'm proud of ya. You've become the woman I've always wanted," Ranma blushed, abruptly leapfrogging high into the air to roundhouse kick a ninja into a faraway mountain, shattering it to pieces.

"Gee. Thanks, ya big stud."

* * *

><p>"Aw, rats," Ranma moaned silently, lamenting his teenage hormones after a quick feel in between his legs, "Lousy hormones," Reaching over to the tap, Ranma switched on the cold water, making sure to pull the plug out to release some of the warm water to avoid it overflooding.<p>

Now feeling himself sink into despondency after his body confirmed what his mind was telling him he didn't want, Ranma turned around in the bathtub, placing his forearms on the edge, "Who am I kiddin'? I would trade in the chance ta stand next ta Yu-chan if it meant I could be with him. Heh... Now I sorta understand why tomboy wanted ta cook fer me." Feeling his eyes clouded by tears, Ranma stubbornly swiped them away, not wanting to be seen as weak even to himself, "Damn it... I-I'm so pathetic. how can a guy even... err, like-like another guy in... _that _way, anyway?"

The running cold water conveniently made the once warm water in the bathtub lukewarm, cold enough to trigger Ranma's curse; the effects were nigh instantaneous. Ranma's height shortened considerably, her skin lightened, her muscles disappeared to be replaced by a pair of busty breasts, and her trademark braid-styled hair known as a pigtail morphed from black to red.

"B-But if I'm a girl, then... it'll be alright ta l-like-l-like a guy, right?"

...Wasn't girls ultimately meant to like-like guys anyway?

Man. Ranma really hoped so, because as much as she lamented to admit it she did really and truly care for Yusuke Urameshi.

"Heck... I'll go as far as ta say I-I-I... sorta-kinda maybe… err, uhm, l-love t-that big dummy!"

XxX

The World's Strongest Man

**C**

**H**

**A**

**P**

**T**

**E**

**R**

**Seventeen**

Day of Reckoning

XxX

(Elsewhere – Tendo Dojo)

The creaks of the door to the Tendo Dojo sounded out as the lock moved itself around from clockwise to anticlockwise, and back again. This process wouldn't continue for very long before the lock gave away, allowing the door to be pushed aside to reveal Yusuke in all his green-clad glory, staring nonchalantly at a startled Kasumi.

"Hey," He mumbled, stepping into the dojo.

"Urameshi-kun?" Kasumi rhetorically asked with a broom-stick in her hands, blinking her eyes.

"The one and only," He quipped, still in his casual-persona.

"Odd. I was led to believe you would be on shift until later, perhaps even supper-time if my intuition proved right," Yusuke's current choice of garments only served to prove her suspicion right.

Instead of a presentable uniform the young man flexed a long-sleeved medium green hooded jumper. It had a fancy boxer-glove serving as its logo in the middle embedded in the centre of a spiky jaw, the symbolism for a powerful-connected punch in comics.

Additionally, Yusuke was also sporting his gun-shaped pendant around his neck, loose-fitting beige pants that came with two additional pockets by the thigh-areas, a pair of sneakers fitted on his feet, and a two-strapped backpack coolly slung over one of his shoulders.

Yusuke didn't even need to look himself over to tell Kasumi had her doubts about his garments being anything other than casual clothing. It was self-explanatory, "Let's just say I got myself a vacation. Permanently," He said plainly, putting on a grimace, "And leave it at that."

"Oh my, I'm so sorry you felt you had to quit your job," Kasumi said with a small bow. Leave it to her to blatantly misinterpret his explanation to make him feel better. Good lord, was she created for the sole purpose of spreading goodwill to the unfortunate? Yusuke was starting to believe she herself was the originator of the hippy-crew.

"Least that makes one of us," Yusuke said plainly, "Cause I'm not.

Kasumi stood up straight from her previous-bowed position, sending a smile at Yusuke. At first glance, the casual observer may have believed it was just her typical, everyday default kind smile, but an acquaintance of hers would've been able to read the knowing expression the smile was emitting on her face.

"Oh. You don't mean that really," Kasumi insisted, her smile wavering a tad as Yusuke smirked at her. In a brief moment of desperation, Kasumi covered up her minor anxiety with a peaceful drone, "My, your financials will be really low if you don't receive your last paycheck."

Yusuke sniggered, finding Kasumi's innocent concern just so cruelly amusing; though when it was clear he was the only one who was chuckling scornfully, he sobered up, having the decency to look mildly sheepish.

"…Right. You would think so," Yusuke started, allowing the last sights of jest to linger on his countenance before wiping it off to leave a deadpanned, flat one, "-But no."

"No?" Kasumi repeated with a look of adorable incomprehension.

Yusuke resisted the urge to roll his eyes with a sneer. She was just too nice, "I'll spell it out for you," He said jestingly, boldly holding his arms out wide, "It just so happens I got an ace in the hole for just the occasion."

"Well, as long as you can manage," Kasumi whispered softly, carefully cupping her chin with mild concern painted on her visage, "I know it's silly, but I can't help but worry fo-."

"Kasumi, really?" Yusuke asked, interrupting Kasumi's admittance with a wry laugh.

Kasumi's pleasant smile only returned, making Yusuke almost feel the need to wince at how callous he came off for disregarding her frets, "Yes, really," She confirmed gently, though as her next choice of words left her mouth she frowned, "You're not much older than myself, if my hunch proves correct."

Yusuke took the subject regarding their age as his cue to bring up his.

"Nineteen," The green-clad youngster said, "My birthday was four months ago, on match."

Kasumi's smile noticeably brightened, "My, it's as I thought, you're the same age as myself!" She chirped melodically, delicately clapping her hands together in a way an innocent kid might, "Though my birthday was three months ago, on April twelfth."

"Neat," Yusuke said almost with a dismissive tone. His fellow nineteen year old could see his head turning in the direction of the stairs and she couldn't help but mimic his actions.

Their expressions radically differed at the view they were graced with. The green-clad nineteen year old male hummed with a perfectly controlled, pleased expression while the blue dress-clad young woman frowned, an expression vastly contrary to his own.

"Boss, you're early," A practically naked Nabiki said from atop the stairs. In fact it wasn't for the towel slung over her breasts, she would've been fully unclothed as the day she was born.

Taking her sweet time to saunter down the steps, Nabiki couldn't quite hide the coy smile on her countenance at seeing her boss' eyes roaming all over her nigh-exposed body. Even though her regular garments brought out her curvy figure it didn't come with the added bonus of flesh skin on show like just wearing towel did for her.

"What happened? Did you get annual leave?" Nabiki acerbically asked, her tone mockingly sweet.

"Nabiki-imouto, you're being rude," Kasumi reprimanded delicately, being silently self-conscious of being too strict with her younger sister.

"I don't think boss minds, sis," Nabiki countered, cheekily smirking at the mild studying expression on Yusuke's face.

Having stolen a glance at the young man by her, Kasumi intentionally misinterpreted his leering look aimed at her younger sister, "I don't think Urameshi-kun finds your state of dress appropriate young lady," She said, her voice surprisingly still holding the airiness it always had.

"Hm." Yusuke grunted cryptically, following Nabiki's bare feet to the tiled flooring below from the last step, then slowly taking in the rest of her luscious body as if he was moving a camera upwards from the ground up. A nigh-naked Nabiki was quite the view to stare at.

Truth be told it got him a little hard.

'That body,' Yusuke mused, nigh-dreamy

Kasumi brightened her already sunny smile with just dash of impatience beneath its beautiful layers, "Wouldn't you agree, Urameshi-kun?" She asked, "That it is immoral for a young lady to be so… indecent."

"I think you're just wasting air, sis," Nabiki quipped, finding it difficult not to laugh at her so obviously miffed sister. Seeing Kasumi portray any other emotion that wasn't infinite kindness of some variation was just so humorously amusing.

"Oh?" Kasumi blinked in her usual innocence before smiling pleasantly at Nabiki, "And why would that be, little sister? Urameshi-kun's a man. Why, it was my belief that most men preferred a modest, dutiful young lady with adept-cooking skills."

"Then we can chalk it up to Boss not being like 'most men'," Nabiki countered, mockingly tossing her eyes around at Yusuke's scowl of disgust. Shaking her head, Nabiki took two huge strides to the sulking Yusuke, "Oh lighten up," She playfully suggested, swinging her arms around the taller young man's neck, "She means no harm."

"So I've been told," Yusuke remarked acerbically, sparing the blankly observing Kasumi a glance. He couldn't even find it in him to toss a reassuring smirk her way.

Nabiki, catching the barest glimpse of Yusuke's disdainful look at her sister, acted in the only way she could to get Yusuke's mind off of her sister, "Your intelligence would astound even a universal professor!" She said with cheery sarcasm, pressing her body up against Yusuke's.

Yusuke breathed through his nostrils in surprise, "Yowza. You sure know how to make a man feel welcomed, Nabs," He commented, greedily wrapping his free arm around Nabiki's waist.

Nabiki moaned quietly, feeling pleasurable tingles lightly tickling her from Yusuke's one-armed embrace, "Well," The towel-clad young woman said in a sultry voice, "You're quite the man to welcome."

"Eep," Kasumi yelped indistinctly, "Uhm. Little sister, perhaps you would like to freshen up," She smiled even when Yusuke glared at her, "Why, Akane-imouto has company! I believe it would be a most unpleasant experience for them to see you in such an indecent state."

"Why Kasumi, if I didn't know any better, I would say you were desperate!" Yusuke teased with a perky expression on his visage.

Realizing her hastiness was deciphered so easily, Kasumi gently cupped one of her blushing cheeks, "Oh my, I never realized I could be so… pushy. You'll have to accept my apology. I hope I haven't offended either of you."

Instantly, all the jest and brightness were gone from Yusuke's countenance, 'Well that didn't last long,' He mused moodily, "Don't mention it."

"Besides!" Nabiki said in a ecstatic voice, throwing up her back heel, "I kind of like flexing my stuff. It's what mother-nature intended after all," She gazed up with a flirtatious smile on her face at Yusuke who had breathed through his nostrils, "What do you think, boss? I would really like to hear your opinion on the matter."

Yusuke hummed indistinctly, but his mind was elsewhere, 'Definitely strawberries,' He concluded, liking the shampoo Nabiki used to wash her hair, "So-long as I get treated to this kinda luxury treatment, I ain't complaining," He let his hands slide down Nabiki's back, cupping her butt cheeks securely, making her jump into him.

"Why thank you, boss! I applaud your honest feedback!" Nabiki cheerfully mocked, eliciting a smirk her way from the man holding her in his strong grasp.

Kasumi bit her top lip. Even though Yusuke was smirking down at Nabiki and she in return was giving him her typical coy smile the eldest Tendo-sibling could almost feel a sense of longing between the two, making the sexual tension apparent.

She as the older sister would have to do something. Fast. Kasumi wanted neither Akane nor Nabiki to bed any of their significant others until after marriage. _At least!_ To her, it would be classified as right in the eyes of the lord.

"Oh Urameshi-kun," She could tell the older man was angry at her right now for interrupting his moment with Nabiki. For a moment she felt sad, but the negative feeling quickly passed when she remembered Yusuke most likely wanted to have his way with her sister, "Won't you speak with Ryoga-kun? Why, the poor dear had a slight… accident."

Yusuke looked at her, his face portraying his processing comprehension of Kasumi's suggestion, "Think I remember sensing Ryoga's reiki going all sorts outta control earlier on," He scratched his head with a frown, "Though it wasn't for long." He turned to Nabiki with an expectant look on his face.

Nabiki didn't need to be told to know to explain Kasumi's suggestion, "Seems Hibiki had a precognition of a certain Saotome during his meditative period. Daddy volunteered to assist him but that only served to come back to bite him in the ass."

Yusuke clasped his face with repugnance, and none too gently either, creating an audible 'smack' sound, "Don't mind me, I'm just gonna take a wild shot in the dark and say Ryo bull-charged Pansy-boy 'cause he somehow thought he was 'Red,' right?"

"Yep," Nabiki said nonchalantly, confirming Yusuke's guess, "Go ahead and see for yourself what Hibiki's done to the living room as a result."

"Idiot." Yusuke growled, "What the fuck is he on? I can't even imagine the kind of mad drugs he must've been taking to hallucinate in the manner that he did."

"What are you going to do now, Urameshi-kun?" Kasumi whispered gently, trying to ignore the twinge of rancour that occurred in her from the spiteful nickname given to her father by Yusuke.

"No choice. Gotta have a word with the kid," Yusuke said, calmly removing Nabiki's arms from his neck, getting a playful pout from her, "Aw, don't feel down, babe. There'll be plenty of time to cuddle and…" He paused to give the playfully sulking Nabiki a mischievous smirk, "More."

Nabiki gasped slightly with surprised recognition on her face before smiling skittishly, "I look forward to it."

Yusuke offered her a glimpse of his fangs in a fanged-grin before sauntering past her and her sister in the direction of the living room, with Nabiki right on his tail.

After Kasumi's sister had followed her-maybe-love-interest to his next destination in mind, the young woman herself let out a small sigh, silently disappointed in herself for having failed to accomplish her task of keeping Nabiki and Yusuke apart adequately.

"Well, I suppose I should check on Akane-imouto and her fri-." She gasped in remembrance, "Oh my! I forgot about little sister's friends! How rude of me! I should go ask them if they would like any drinks," She said, hurrying up the upstairs.

XxX

(Tendo Dojo – Living Room)

"So!" Nabiki said brightly, gesturing grandly to the gaping Soun-sized hole in the wall while Yusuke monitored his 'sleeping student'. "Pretty nice, right? I'm thinking of adding my own touches, you know, to glamour it up for the potential pigeons who might be interested in this sort of artistic devastation."

"You do that then," Yusuke said impassively.

Though her leader clearly wasn't in the mood for jokes, Nabiki nodded her head with a sunny smile on her countenance regardless, "Well, I guess it's time to get the one and only Hibiki's advice on the matter," Nabiki said mischievously, smirking when Ryoga's form twitched indistinctly, "He ultimately was the one who sculpted this masterpiece."

"Ptff. Yeah. It's a masterpiece alright," Yusuke said sarcastically, wandering up to Ryoga with Nabiki by his side. He watched in irritation as his student laid on his stomach with his head forcibly buried into his arms. Tapping Ryoga's kidney-area with the sole of his sneaker, Yusuke elicited a distinct feigned sleepy groan from the boy, further adding fuel to Yusuke's already burning annoyance.

"Get your ass up!" Yusuke commanded, nudging Ryoga with a tad more force. He was injured after all.

Wincing from the agony his sensei's nudge triggered in him, Ryoga slowly flipped himself around so he was sitting on his butt, shrinking away from the glare of intimidation Yusuke sent him, "Uh… hi, sensei," Ryoga said shyly, awkwardly waving at Yusuke.

"Oh, sure; pretend you're asleep to avoid a confrontation with your sensei, then just say "Hi" when he tells you to get your ass up, because we all know owning up to your actions are so overrated. Good job," Yusuke said with mock-approval, making Ryoga wince.

Pushing his index fingers, Ryoga lowered his head to his lap, "I-I'm s-sorry, s-sensei. I-I d-d-didn't know what came over me… I-I."

"Sometime today would be nice," Yusuke said dryly, feeling the depressive Ki of his student begin to cloud the impulsive teen. Scowling, Yusuke nudged Ryoga's leg with his foot, "Hey! Don't be going emo on me."

Ryoga snapped at attention, remembering that his sensei could sense his inner emotions easily, "Right." He mumbled, scratching the back of his head, "Sorry."

Yusuke sighed with leniency, dropping down in a squat so he was eye-level with his disciple, "Look, I'm not mad, alright? I just want to know what the fuck was going through that thick skull of yours when you went on a rampage."

Ryoga cringed at Yusuke's bluntness, finding his lap far more appealing to look at instead of his sensei's eyes, "Y-Yeah, I, err-."

"Oh, don't be so harsh on him," Thankfully for Ryoga, Nabiki of all people came to his rescue, squatting down to lean over Yusuke with her arms securely wrapped around his neck. The fact that she was only in a towel surprisingly didn't bother Ryoga all that much, "He just _loves _little sis so much he'll freak out even when just imagining her being with someone else."

This time instead of cringing at Yusuke's bluntness, Ryoga winced at Nabiki's sly, plain-spoken jibe disguised as a defensive compliment.

Nabiki's head honcho, however, merely twirled his head as much as his body would allow it with an expression of mock-intrigue on his ill-tempered face, "And this is coming from you, aka Miss Misery. You live to drug yourself up on the anguish of others."

Nabiki shrugged, already having a half-assed, common answer at the ready, "People change." And they really do, especially when they get a taste of their own medicine from the very person who they were now working under. Nabiki didn't even want to recall the Fear of God Yusuke installed in her the night he returned to Nerima without Ranma.

…Though Nabiki _did _occasionally still get a kick out of torturing saps such as Kuno, because as far as her boss was concerned, if a super-powered fighter didn't have the cojones to stand up to her, then said spiritually enhanced fighter deserved everything he/she got from his subordinate.

In the case of Ryoga, he was just sympathetic as opposed to the usual unsympathetic nut-cases which inhabit the loony City of Nerima, and truth be told, Nabiki felt kind of sorry for the guy. He did honestly and wholeheartedly love her sister unconditionally despite her flaws, and the youngest Tendo had a myriad of them.

"True." Yusuke said, turning back to his blankly watching student with a gaze of clemency, "Okay, Ryo, I'm officially issuing recess, you can go back to your state of hibernation with the worry of your master's admonishment no longer on your mind. We'll resume your meditative training once I get back."

A part of Ryoga was indeed put to a peaceful rest hearing that he wouldn't be receiving an ear-full from his sensei for inadvertently assaulting his girlfriend's father. Speaking of which, there was still the matter of the collateral damage left behind as consequential evidence of the bodily harm.

Tentatively whirling his head to the damaged wall over to the far left of the living room next to the TV, Ryoga pointed, "W-What about that sensei?"

"Don't worry about _that,_" Yusuke sharply commanded without sparing a glance at the wall, making Ryoga flinch at his grafted voice, "I will personally gather the loot from an underground fighting arena to call in the reconstruction boys to deal with that like it never happened, then we will all proceed to carry on with our daily lives, exactly as if it had never happened. Comprende?"

Ryoga stared up at the man who had taken him underneath his wing in silent admiration of his mature imperturbability, 'Sensei, how can you be so calm about all this?'

Nabiki's mouth opened wide in recognition, "Oh, I see," The brown-haired woman's mouth closed so her lips could curve outwards to form her discernible skittish grin, "Really, I should've expected as much. What better way for the strongest man in the town to make elementary money other than a sport he was basically designed for," She almost wanted to chuckle at the logicality of Yusuke's method of racking in a profit. How had she not thought of that? "Child's play, really."

"You're right on the money," Yusuke grinned roguishly, taking his time to rise to his feet. Taking that as her cue to either put up or shut up, Nabiki chose the former, locking her bare legs around Yusuke's muscular torso. Placing his calloused hands on the sides of Nabiki's legs, Yusuke smoothly allowed his hands to run up and down them, sending a shiver of lust up Nabiki's spine as she shut her eyes and rested her head on his shoulder in peaceful delight

Glancing down at Ryoga, Yusuke smirked, "See Ryo. That's how you deal with a gal. You just gotta be adamantly decisive in your decisions, hence influencing her to stay with ya," He shot Ryoga a quick reassuring thumbs-up as if to reaffirm his ideology as fact.

"Uh, I'll try to keep that in mind, Yusuke-sensei," Ryoga said awkwardly, blinking up at Yusuke giving Nabiki a piggyback ride.

"_Oh, _boss," Nabiki called out in a cheery, sensual voice, almost giving poor Ryoga a nosebleed, the young – occasionally hot-headed – man attempting to force the images of Nabiki giving his sensei a lap dance out of his mind.

Yusuke, still smirking down at his student, decided to show him another lesson in dealing with horny women; blatantly pretend you have no idea why they longed for your D, "S'up, honey?"

"I a-almost neglected to inform you of daddy's rather suspect behaviour earlier," Nabiki said, stuttering involuntarily from the pleasure Yusuke's massage to her legs aroused in her. She was undoubtedly disappointed when Yusuke decided rub-down time was over, wiping all the exuberance from his face.

"When you say, "suspect"," Yusuke quoted with careful consideration, "How so?"

Sighing with resignation, Nabiki clarified, "Not only was he dressed up as a detective, but he was specifically heedful to avoid letting his targeted destination or even objective slip, boss," Breathlessly gasping from being chucked upwards, Nabiki's head and legs landed square in the muscular arms of her commander. Neatly folding her arms to emanate a relaxed aura despite her surprise, Nabiki inquisitively glanced up into the earnest expression of Yusuke.

"I only got one more question for you, Nabs," Yusuke said, his dispassionate tone making his declaration that much more momentous, "Did Pansy-boy by any chance dispose of that magic mirror?"

Slowly, Nabiki shook her head, "No, not to my knowledge."

Carefully dilating his eyes, Ryoga's blood turned cold, "Does that mean Tendo-san went off to meet up with Genma-san and that dirty old man to travel back into the past to retrieve that Ganondorf-guy?" He asked, hoping by stating the obvious he could have his fear lulled.

Unfortunately, Yusuke wasn't that benevolent to a young man who didn't have the innocence of an eight year child, "If the implications are anything to go by, then yeah, doomsday could be approaching real soon."

"Damn!" Ryoga cursed in frustration, wincing from his wounds.

"But Boss, shouldn't you be able to track down daddy and his band of misfits before they leave the realm of the present to journey to the past?" Nabiki quipped in Yusuke's arms, making hope flash across Ryoga's face while a dry one appeared on hers, "If we consider Hibiki's current condition after his "manly duel" with the old fools, then I wholeheartedly believe it's safe to assume it'll take a while till daddy tracks down his "partners-in-crime"."

"She's right, sensei! That means ther-." Ryoga hurried, shooting up to his feet a little too quickly, aggravating his burning wounds as a consequence. "Ugh."

Feeling a gentle breeze blew the bangs of her hair when Yusuke coolly rounded on Ryoga, Nabiki's calm, inquisitive expression mirrored his, "Take it easy, kid. Currently, the three stooges of douchebaggery are not even on the radar," Yusuke informed.

What his sensei's admittance insinuated at made the disciple tense up, "I-it… can't be." The bandana-clad young man said, unnerved. Standing in a hunched position with balled fists, Ryoga's face scrunched up in frustration at an obvious failed endeavour.

"What does he believe he's accomplishing, boss?" Nabiki asked, gazing up at her leader for answers. Clearly, by his expression alone she could tell he and Ryoga were in an internal spiritual plane-field she was not part of.

"He's trying and failing to locate your old man's energy signature."

"Oh." Nabiki said in nonchalant acknowledgement.

"Damn." Ryoga lamented his fail to pick up on Soun's energy signature.

"I specifically recall telling you that worrying was futile." Yusuke said with some annoyance in his tone, "So do us all a favour and quit stressing. It isn't going to change the past you know. What done is done."

"But sensei, if Tendo-san manages to bring back that Ganondorf-guy then you cou-." Ryoga began to argue, but quickly shut his mouth when he realized what exactly he was about to suggest.

"Die?" Yusuke finished for him with impassivity, eliciting a wince from Ryoga, "Not gonna lie to you, it's a possibility."

Ryoga shot his head up to Yusuke with an expression of adamant insistence, "But sensei, you're so strong! You've trounced everyone here without even breaking a sweat at some point!" Ryoga yelled in an argumentative manner, throwing his hands up, "How could you possibly lose to a dead guy who may or may not even exist!?"

"Hate to break it to you, but I'm not invincible, kid," Yusuke retorted, shooting an miffed glare at Ryoga for shouting in his face, making him shrink back with raised hands and a nervous smile on his face, "You may think I am, but I'm not. Just 'cuz I've put every wannabe around here in their places, doesn't mean I'm this "all-powerful god"; and if you think I am, then you need a reality check."

Ryoga hung his head in despondency.

"Sounds like Boss has had his own distinct taste of defeat," Nabiki grinned like a Cheshire cat.

"Never said I was unbeatable," Yusuke riposted lackadaisically, thinking of Yomi and the other super S-classed demons that were above his level. He even considered his father in his prime since he could recall Enki admitting that a full-powered, hundred percent healthy Raizen could've systematically annihilated them all as easy as him taking a stroll in the park.

To the mighty, former godlike demon of Makai, it most likely was.

With those last plain-spoken words uttered by Yusuke publicized, a tense, concentrated silence lurked over the living room area with the three current visitors lost in their own thoughts.

'Daddy's dug his own grave now,' Nabiki regarded her father's fate at the hands of Yusuke with an angry grimace on her face, 'How foolish! Was being of assistance to big sis really so difficult this morning? Or, like Uncle Saotome, is he till pining for Saotome to marry little sis? Whatever the reason may be one thing's for sure; it's that daddy's eradication at the hands of Boss will be imminent.'

'Damn it! What the hell's Tendo-san thinking, joining up with those assholes?' Ryoga reflected with a considerable amount of resentful frustration, 'Is this about me attacking him?' He considered thoughtfully, 'Maybe he till wants to marry off one of his other daughters to Saotome to merge his damned school!' He growled in disgust,'Grr, asshole! I swear, if it wasn't for Akan-.'

Either one or two reasons could've been what had reminded Ryoga of his girlfriend. On one side of the spectrum he had mentally mentioned her, and on the other side he'd picked up on the distinct sounds of dull, metal thuds reverberating from above them thanks to the silence.

"Akane-chan!"

Looking blankly at the space once preoccupied by Ryoga, only the dominant one of the mock-couple would easily see Ryoga moving speedily out of the living room as if he was going in slow-motion. Nabiki, on the other hand, only caught a cloud shaped in the form of the young man who was previously there.

To Nabiki, Ryoga may as well had teleported.

"Well," Nabiki said, batting her eyelashes, "How unexpected."

"Ain't that the truth?"

With the rhetorical question out in the open, Yusuke followed Ryoga's trail at a cool, relaxed pace, all the while keeping the towel-clad Nabiki in his arms.

XxX

Just before Ryoga could run through an undamaged part of the Tendo Dojo back garden wall - conveniently next to the gaping hole Yusuke had made a month ago - he felt a vice-lock grip on the back of his neck before he was dragged off of the ground.

"Ahh! N-Now w-who's g-got me?" Panicking, Ryoga flailed his legs and arms around in a feeble attempt to escape his captor's grasp, "L-Lemme go! I've gotta get to Akan-."

"Chillax. Right now, kid," The bone-chilling calm command of his sensei settled his nerves instantly. Twirling his head to the left side, Ryoga would see the towel-clad Nabiki still held in the right-armed embrace of his sensei like a baby, arms crossed underneath her bosom and a sneer on her lips.

"Were you _really _running off to little sis or away from the big-bad coyote? Hmm. I wonder."

With a light blush of embarrassment gracing his cheeks, Ryoga massaged the back of his head with his hand, "Woops, sorry. I-I didn't know what came over me."

"No? Oh, do tell. You could've fooled us."

Ryoga found his dangled form flinching like a flopping fish at Nabiki's sarcasm, "I know I goofed. Sorry, and... thanks, for stopping me from disappearing to wherever, sensei," Sighing with an air of leniency, Yusuke would offer Ryoga a casual guarantee and a reference before flashing them all back inside of the Tendo Dojo.

"Nevermind, kid. We'll get you fixed. Just... 'believe it'."

xXx

(Upstairs - with Akane – Her friends - and Kasumi)

xXx

"Would you like some help, Akane-chan?" Yuki asked carefully, standing at the ready behind Akane who was struggling down the stairs.

"O-Oh! I-I'm okay, Yuki-chan!" Akane insisted with a broad, cheerful smile of reassurance. Placing her crutches on the top step, Akane's face scrunched up as she forced her weight up and over to her crutches, "T-Thanks for offering though! You and Sayuri-chan are really great friends!" Akane said with a huge sigh of relief from just accomplishing to get herself on the top step.

Her two school friends both shared a glance of concern between each other, but otherwise acquiesced with Akane's decision to get herself down the stairs of her home.

Seeing her little sister's two friends wincing in sync with Akane herself straining her limbs to get to the second step of the stairs, Kasumi decided to discreetly command Akane to accept assistance under the disguise of a kind suggestion, "Oh, little sister. Might I suggest letting your two friends help yo-?"

"Akane-chan!"

But Ryoga's stout-hearted cry cut off Kasumi, making the four young women shoot their head down the stairs in the direction of his voice.

"R-Ryoga-kun," Akane stuttered in surprise.

Once her eyes landed on the bandaged form of her significant other, it was as if time itself had slowed down. None of the ladies moved, but Ryoga did. It probably didn't take Ryoga very long to reach her, but he may as well have. Every step his feet treaded on to Akane's eyes were slow, and heedless, yet dauntless and hasty, and all just to reach her.

"Akane-chan," Ryoga said with a staggered breath, impulsively wrapping his arms around Akane's waist, bringing her out of her daydream. With Ryoga's strong arms hugged securely around her waist, Akane's face heated up with several shades of red, "You should be careful. You might fall in your condition."

"Oh Ryoga-kun," Akane said dreamily, neither noticing Yuki nor Sayuri watching them with excited expressions. Both were in their own private little world, "I-I got worried about you," She hesitated, bringing up her hand to rest on his chest.

Ryoga's face mirrored his confusion, "Worried about me? What do you mean, dear?"

Averting her eyes slightly from Ryoga's, Akane attempted to moist her dry throat, "I-I figured Urameshi-san would give you a hard time about the… incident earlier on." She discreetly explained, not wanting her friends to know about the incident involving her father and her boyfriend.

As far as she was concerned it was a family matter.

"Oh, yeah; you mean that," Akane was almost surprised to hear how calm Ryoga was while he rubbed the back of his head, "You don't have to worry about that. Sensei said he'll take care of it."

Akane's eyes widened at the information given to her by Ryoga, "No way, really? Urameshi-san actually said he would fix something that belongs to Daddy?" Ryoga hesitated, but otherwise gave Akane a tentative nod of his head in confirmation, not knowing if his sensei was eavesdropping on them or not despite being close by, "Oh, wow, that's really nice of him."

"Sensei's just a nice guy like that," Ryoga said, his visage twisting in sharp concentration, "Hell, I'm living breathing proof of his kindness. Had it not been for him finding me lurking around I wouldn't have gotten the courage to admit my feelings to you, Akane-chan."

"Oi, you," Akane playfully castigated her humble partner, softly jabbing him on his chest, making him squirm shyly, "Don't give him all the credit. I'm positive you would've told me how you feel even if Urameshi-san hadn't offered to be some kind of personal coach to you. I'm sure of it! You're not only a wonderful person but my fair, gallant knight."

A nervous sweat built on Ryoga's face. Trying to mask his nervousness, Ryoga offered Akane what he hoped was a winning smile, but it only came off as shaky, "Uhm. W-Well, I'm really not all that."

"Awwwwww," Ryoga flinched at the drawn out affectionate coos coming from neither him nor Akane. Now taking exclusive notice to their audience Ryoga paled at the heart-eyed Yuki and Sayuri, "That's _so _romantic!" They gushed simultaneously, sweetly joining their heads together and conveniently synchronizing their hands to form a heart.

"H-Hey! W-Where'd you guys come from?" Ryoga yelped.

Akane smiled at her girlfriends in a triumphant manner, "See! I told you two my Ryoga-kun is the sweetest most humble sweetie pie you would ever see!" She gushed, forgetting all about her crutches to cling onto Ryoga's arm.

"Whoa, careful," Ryoga advised, speedily snatching both crutches before they could fall in one hand. When he did, the implications of previous Akane's statement struck him like thunder, making him extend his eyes in momentary shock.

Since when'd he become Akane's Ryoga?

…When she became his Akane.

"Woops, silly me," Akane said, looking bashful, "Thank you, Ryoga-kun. I don't know where I would be without you," Clearly an exaggeration of her appreciation for Ryoga's assistance, but that was beside the point. It was meant to showcase just how much she adored Ryoga, and she really did. Even now, she almost completely forgot about her friends, as she stared with sparkling eyes at the teenage boy holding her up, capturing his love-struck gaze in hers.

"Oh dearest Akane, you're too good to me," Ryoga mumbled.

"So romantic…" Sayuri and Yuki's affectionate cheer broke the two lovebirds out of their stupor, making them instinctively give the two eavesdropping girls their best bashful smiles.

"So we can expect a wedding sometime soon between you two lovebirds, right?"

"Eh?" Ryoga dumbly asked.

"Ah! L-Let's not jump to any hasty decisions, Sayuri-chan!" Akane nervously suggested.

"Oh, of course! They're clearly perfect for each other. All that's left is for them to tie the knot!"

"Okay," Ryoga said passively, too stupefied to put a stop to the girls' wild fantasies.

"C'mon that's ridiculous! Ryoga-kun and I have only just started going out!" Akane whined with strong insistence.

But the youngest Tendo might as well have been talking to a brick wall for all the good her suggestion did, "Oh! Bridesmaids, you're gonna need a couple of those Akane-chan!" Sayuri stated cheerfully, giving her friend a hinting wink.

"And we know where you can find two of those, right Sayuri-chan?"

"You betcha Yuki-chan!"

The girls then whirled on their unofficial leader, sending her what they hoped were their best victorious, charming smiles, ones that just screamed, "We're not cheeky, we just know 'V' is for victory!"

Akane was left baffled by her friends' absurd behaviour, and for a few moments, she stood in place mumbling rapidly and indistinctly, as if attempting to piece together the correct words to politely inform her friends no wedding was happening, at least not so soon.

She made one mistake agreeing to an early marriage, she wasn't going to make another one.

"Just go with it," Ryoga's humorous-induced voice cut Akane off, the injured teen girl twirling her head to see the edges of her significant other's lips curving outwards to form a puckish grin, "I think it's pretty funny actually," Giving Akane's sides a soft hinting squeeze, Ryoga turned his head to her, "Mrs Hibiki."

The gaiety in Ryoga's voice triggered Akane's own funny bone, something highly lost during Ranma's time in the Tendo Dojo. Sighing in an overly dramatic manner, Akane started, "I guess you're right," Smiling waggishly, Akane ended, "My hubby."

While Ryoga felt his cheeks flare up with the colour of twin shades of cherry blossom petals, Sayuri and Yuki silently cheered, as if pleased to see some master plan of theirs was going perfectly according to plan.

"Right. So can I help you back up to your room dear?" Ryoga asked gallantly.

Looking at their intertwined bodies, then to the ground floor where she noticed her nigh-naked sister in the arms of Yusuke, Akane nodded, "Yes, if you wouldn't mind."

"Not at all," Ryoga assured, sweeping Akane off of her feet and into his arms, making Sayuri and Yuki practically swoon like a pair of starry-eyed fan-girls, "It's the least I could do for you," He said, smiling at Akane as he began to "carry" her to her room, much to Sayuri and Yuki's confusion.

"Err, Ryoga-kun?"

Ryoga sighed in peaceful ecstasy.

"Yes, dearest Akane-chan?"

"You're going the wrong way."

Ryoga was brought down from the clouds to earth.

"Eh?"

Gazing downward instead of upward, Ryoga spotted his sensei and Nabiki, both giving him and Akane a wave with calm, bland expressions.

"Uh, right." Now realizing his mistake Ryoga began to make a U-turn, but not before Akane caught a glimpse of Yusuke with a smile of serenity that looked totally foreign to her on his face.

'Huh? Urameshi-san?'

"All well that ends well, huh?" Yusuke asked, seeing Kasumi and Akane's friends leading Ryoga to Akane's room with the teen girl herself in the arms of his student.

"I'm almost surprised daddy doesn't just hitch Hibiki and little sis," Nabiki said with some consideration.

"Nah. In his screwed up head, that till wouldn't join up the Tendo and Saotome schools," Yusuke explained with a grimace coming to his face at the mention of Soun.

"I know, but if my father's brain was any bigger than a microscopic peanut he would rope Hibiki and little sis into marriage while he till can, wait for them to start their own family, and hitch their kid to Saotome's. He… she may not have been the most well-mannered of people during his… her stay here, but as we've already discussed, time can change people," Nabiki reasoned, "I'm pretty sure little sis and Hibiki don't actually have plans of tying the knot while she's till in school, so that should give Saotome sufficient time to mature and find a mate of her own whoever that may be."

"Well put."

"Why, thank you. I do try!"

XxX

(Moments earlier - Somewhere else – Location unknown)

A spherical orb of a bright white light materialized, dropping Soun, a heavily wounded and bandaged Genma, and a severely scorched Happosai in the middle of nowhere by the looks of it, though one could clearly make out the mountains in the distance.

Upon arriving in the home of his chosen saviour, Soun squeezed, taking one hand off of the injured Genma to rub his nose.

"Oh I say, it appears I might have come down with a cold," Soun said blandly, straightening Genma up, "How you suppose that happened?"

"Hurrah, fella!" Happosai cheered with childish glee, springing up high and to Soun's shoulder, wrapping a diminutive arm around half of his neck, with a distinct little mirror in his other grip, "I just knew you wouldn't let your old master down. Oh, I'm so proud of you I could just weep!"

Genma found even using his vocal cords to speak in his injured state was too painful. So instead of talking he whipped out a sign as if he was in cursed form. *But master, wasn't you castigating Tendo the other day ago?* The sign was abruptly heeled out of his hands by Happosai's foot.

"Oh, pipe down Genma!" Happosai said sulkily, turning his head back to Soun with a conceited grin. "You think I would betray my own hard work like that? Ha! What do you take your old master for, huh? Why, you and Soun have been like my very own boys! I could never backstab either of you!" He finished dramatically, covering up his tears.

"Is that so, master?" Soun deadpanned.

"Grr!" Getting angry with his students' adamant refusal to accept his fatherly affection, Happosai hopped down from Soun's shoulder, petulantly stomping his tiny feet into the dirt ground below, "Is that any way to speak to your master, you ungrateful brat? Perhaps," A mischievous smirk crossed Happosai's features, "You don't want to be underneath the secure heavenly sanctuary of lord Ganondorf's rule?"

Going bug-eyed at the implications of Happosai's teasing contemplation, Genma ignored the agony to drop onto his knees, making sure to take an all too willing Soun with him, *Forgive our rudeness, master! We just want the _**BOY **_out of our lives so Ranma-boy can marry Akane, thus joining our schools together!* The words of plea were inscribed on Genma's sign while said injured man bowed before Happosai's feet.

Flipping his sign around without taking his head off of the ground, Genma rotated it in Soun's direction, *Tell him, Tendo! Tell him it was all just one big misunderstanding!*

"U-Uh… yes. P-Please master, forgive my impudence. I had not meant to offend you oh-so great and honourable master!" Soun excessively worshipped Happosai, pleading for forgiveness.

Apparently, Soun's kiss ass approach was not appreciated by the unnaturally stunted old man who pouted with clear disdain, crossing his arms behind his back to balance out his childish spite with wise consideration, "Your suck-up method won't work on me fella!"

"Oh please master!" Soun begged in a pitiful whimper, pressing his forehead with so much exertion into the ground he could feel his head sinking into the dirt floor, "I can't bear to live another moment under the evil Urameshi-kun's eternal damnation! Please save me from the apocalypse Urameshi-kun's wrath will bring upon me and my family!"

"Humph. Well that's more like it," Happosai insisted with approval, waltzing up to the bowed Soun to rest a tiny hand upon his head, feeling him flinching beneath his hand, "Consider this your only warning, you little whippersnapper," Giving Soun's hair a seemingly affectionate ruffle that disguised his superiority, Happosai smirked at Soun readily nodding his head into the ground.

"Oh yes, master! Of course! I'll listen to anything you say!" Soun exclaimed dramatically.

"And that's just what I wanted to hear!" Happosai yelled haughtily, putting his magic mirror away inside of his Gi before striking an heroic pose, "It's just what lord Ganondorf would want to hear too, ya got that? 'Cause as ya could probably guess, this was all a small test staged by me to see where your loyalties lie."

Soun and Genma lifted up shaky heads, "*Test?*" They simultaneously made their confusion known via a small, quiet voice and a wobbly sign.

"Yes, test," Happosai confirmed in a lecturing tone, "As you boys can imagine, lord Ganondorf has little to no tolerance for insubordination. One clumsy slip up and you're out!" He heedfully left out the full consequences of double-crossing Ganondorf, not wanting to scare them shitless.

"O-Oh, y-yes! A test!" Soun stammered happily, bowing his head rapidly, "Oh. How could I be so silly? You hear that Saotome? We've been cleared by our ever forgiving and gracious master. Oh, how our luck is changing!" He stated histrionically, "This is a happy, joyous occasion!" Tears poured down Soun's eyes.

Genma's curiosity was piqued from all the hype the man of the hour, Ganondorf, was receiving. Lifting up a sign, he made his enquiry known, *I was just wondering master.*

"Yes. What is it Genma?"

*How powerful is this Ganondorf-guy?* Genma flipped his sign around.

"What?!" Happosai shouted furiously, making Genma and Soun wince from the anger in his voice. Galloping up to Genma, Happosai unsympathetically whacked his foot into Genma's chin. Genma, already severely injured from the thrashing he received from Ryoga and Yusuke's hands, yowled in agony, feeling his entire upper lurch upwards from the force of Happosai's blow. Not needing any more invitation, Happosai leaped up, taking out his trusty pipe to thwack Genma right on his forehead, forcing him on his back.

"Grr! How dare you doubt lord Ganondorf's strength, ya ungrateful hooligan!" Happosai self-righteously chastised Genma, standing on his chest.

"Oh please master! Saotome's injured!" Soun pleaded for his friend's sake, secretly happy it wasn't him on the receiving end of his master's ire.

Forcibly pulling Genma up by his Gi, Happosai disregarded his pained grimace, "Lord Ganondorf is our one and only saviour and protector, the one who will clobber that brat Urameshi into oblivion! That oughta teach him to interrupt me from my treasure hunt of bountiful panti-. I mean, err, spreading joy and peace throughout Nerima. Yes, that's what I meant to say," Happosai awkwardly corrected.

"Oh master," Soun moaned.

"Humph!" Happosai said contemptuously, hopping off of Genma, "So chap, I hope you've learned a valuable lesson. Which is?"

Flopping flat on his back with a dust cloud appearing around his body, Genma weakly held up a sign, *Uh. Not to underestimate Ganondorf?*

"That's _lord _Ganondorf or Ganondorf-_sama_ to ya fella!" Happosai screeched, eliciting winces from Genma and Soun. Speaking of the Tendo patriarch, Happosai rounded on him too, "That goes double for ya too, fella! I don't want lord Ganondorf thinking I haven't taught my boys how to properly address someone of such high class as himself now, got it?"

Soun flinched, "Oh, yes, of course. Proper respect for one's own superior is essential. How could I forget? Haha," He laughed in forced cheerfulness, "Ganondorf-sama sounds splendid indeed. Wouldn't you agree Saotome?"

Genma groaned with a raised sign. *Yes, Ganondorf-sama is fine by me.* Happosai released a pouty noise from his mouth and crossed his arms.

"And you better believe it too, brat, 'cause you'll see the power of lord Ganondorf himself first hand! And then you'll know what _true _utopia is, utopia to his loyal followers, but true terror to all his enemies!"

A bolt of blue voluminous lightning thundered across the air, startling Genma and Soun.

*What's that?*

Happosai smirked, slowly spinning his head over his shoulder before offering the two a quip, "Why, the devil himself of course!"

Widening their eyes at their new god's unexpected arrival, Genma and Soun hastily sat up straight, glancing in the general direction Happosai for staring at with pronounced inquisitive expressions.

What they found, at this point in their terrified lives, could basically be related to a prospect right out of their dreams, (or nightmares, depending on one's own perspective). This man's,- no, _godly being's _power was just… well, for a lack of a better term, _unreadable. _They could not gauge his comprehensive power, it was immeasurable. His energy pool felt like a void of sheer nothingness, but the unspeakable malice he was emanating left them on edge.

Somehow, as the two misguided students of Happosai watched the silhouette sitting atop another one in the form of a horse who rose up on its master's order to stand on two feet, they began to have second doubts.

Was this really what they wanted?

XxX

(Elsewhere – Location Unknown)

"Damn."

Kazuma Kuwabara cussed with a bead of sweat rolling down his cheek as he sat in a red one seated recliner chair hunched forward with his hands held together in concentration. Wearing a waist-high navy blue jacket over a baby blue shirt Kuwabara's ginger hair was still styled in his trademark pompadour style. He had on slim jeans as opposed to Yusuke's baggy slacks and black shoes fitted on his feet.

"This is, just," Kuwabara said gruffly, pausing to scrunch up his face in frustration. "Unreal. That guy," If he could even call that demonic-like godly entity a human being to begin with, "-Was like _fifteen_ Urameshis put together," The ginger swordsman's angular-shaped face was getting progressively more solemn the longer he contemplated on the matter, "Part of me even thinks I'm just trying to downplay that freak's power just to make me feel better, somewhat anyway."

It was at that point Kuwabara heard the turning of his doorknob, signifying someone was entering. For a warrior with such high spiritual awareness as Kuwabara, looking up to see who had opened the door was redundant. He could tell with a mere scan of the person's enormous energy signature. It could've been that or the fact that beside him there was only one other person who had a key to his dorm room.

"Ah. Yes, I thank you for your gracious invitation, Haruno-san, but I'm afraid I will have to decline. You see, I have other assignments that I must attend to," A similar voice echoed, gentle and polite despite the refusal, "You understand that they take clear precedence, do you not? A last I fear mother would have my head if I neglected my duties."

"Oh, of course Shuichi-senpai! I understand. I mean, you got to do what you got to do, right?" An overly peppy feminine voice reached Kuwabara's ears, making the broad-shouldered young man snort indistinctly.

'Fan-girls,' The ginger warrior mused with a scowl, 'They're like wolves, swarming all over the first poor guy they deem 'stud-material'. Geez. Didn't their parents teach them anything about honour?' Kuwabara thought, his countenance morphing into a look of intense determination, 'One day, I'm gonna find a way to spread my ideology around the world, or at the very least inject it into misguided wet-behind-the-ears brats,' If nothing else they would inherit his will and make it their ambition to bring peace to the world.

Kuwabara had to play his part in making the world a better place.

"But I would be really honoured if you could accept it in your spare time Shuichi-senpai," Haruno insisted.

"Although I confess I cannot promise any guarantees, I shall keep your invitation in mind for a later date," Shuichi said smoothly, earning himself a squeal from the girl. As per usual, Kuwabara heard the sound of lips smacking against flesh before his sheepish roommate stepped into his room, his visage covered in lip-shaped lipstick.

"Ah. The innocence of adolescence, something clearly to be admired for its uniqueness, not frowned upon for its obnoxiousness," Shuichi smiled with an even tone, coolly cupping his chin to emanate a contemplative expression.

Shuichi Minamino sported a silver coloured long-sleeved, regal Chinese-styled shirt with black buttons, matching pants, and a pair of smart black shoes fitted on his feet to coexist with the colour of his buttons, overall complementing his luxurious outfit. His exquisite visage was framed by two long, wonderfully done bangs of his red hair, and a couple of strands fell in between his beautiful emerald, forest-coloured eyes.

All in all he was an exceedingly handsome young man at first glance and someone any young woman would basically give their right arm to be with. Would they still feel that way after discovering the skeletons hidden deep within this "young man's" closest? That would forever remain to be seen.

Opening his sly, leaf-green beautiful eyes that could've pierced through even the darkest of voids, Shuichi curiously observed Kuwabara's tense, unrelaxed form, "Is something troubling you, Kuwabara? You seem unnaturally tense."

"Yeah, man, and it isn't pretty," Kuwabara confirmed, immediately putting his friend on the edge of seriousness with his own deep, grave voice void of any and all jest or playfulness, "I just had a precognition."

Knowing when and when not to take Kuwabara's otherworldly predictions seriously, Shuichi calmly closed his eyes, resting one of his hands into his pocket of his pants while the other cupped his chin, "I see. Should I inform Hiei while you notify Yusuke of this substantially crucial event of the future?"

Standing up, Kuwabara kept his emotions in check with a perfectly placed detached expression on his face, "Yeah, definitely. This is something we'll need all the big guns for, and then _some._"

"And you sincerely articulate this void of any exaggeration but precision?"

"As sincerely as me marrying Yukina-chan in ten years! Trouble's on the horizon soldier."

XxX

(The Next Day, Cat café – with Yusuke)

XxX

Three dull, loud thuds reverberated throughout the café from the back of Yusuke's fist.

Being confirmed of his gut-feeling by a message left to his "secretary" for him from his childhood friend was alarming. Even the difficulty Kuwabara had with Nabs on the phone could barely lull the agitation he felt in the pit of his gut.

Now he really wished the wannabes who posed as fighters in the underground fighting arena he took Nabs to, to act as his betting girl were stronger, so that way he could at least can some training in. The minuscule amount of euphoria he received from smashing blockheads together only lasted so long before nothing was left but bored indifference.

Well at least Yusuke made enough money to last him years, even with the thirty five percent he gave to Nabs for A – doing a terrific job, and B, and most importantly – annoying Kuwabara. It was just sadistically awesome hearing how vexed Kuwabara sounded on the phone when Yusuke got back to him.

He liked the way "his girl" thought.

"Coming!" A familiar bubbly voice was heard to Yusuke's ears.

Well, "one of them" anyway. He wondered for a moment how he had obtained four girls he could share moments of intimacy with, but then he soon remembered he was immortal. He wasn't going to die. They were though. Why settle down when the end result was going to be widowhood anyway? He may as well channel his inner Charlie Sheen and go nuts.

With a click, the door cracked opened, giving way to a momentarily stunned-faced Shampoo wearing her usual darkish pink Chinese blouse matched by Chinese pants that appeared a tad too small for her, leaving her bare ankles on show, as well as doing wonders to bring out her curves.

Yusuke rationalized she was up bright and early to assist her great grandmother in the process of setting up shop before hungry customers popped down to stuff their faces in with delicious noodles, "So, you just gonna stand there gawking or are you gonna invite me in?" He said expressionlessly.

"Yusuke-airen!" Shampoo squealed happily, leaping up to latch her arms around Yusuke's neck and her legs around his muscular torso, pushing her busty breasts into his chest, "You come to declare love to your Shampoo, yes?"

"Actually, no," Yusuke said bluntly, "Need to speak with your old lady, on the double. Shit can't wait."

"Aw," Shampoo sulkily moaned, putting a small fanged-smirk on Yusuke's face. Taking a moment to thoroughly examine her would-be fiancée, the blue-haired beauty had to thank god that there was no angry girls to come along and "_punish" _him by allowing her to hug him, not that her airen would ever allow anyone to disrespect him in the first place.

"Okay. At least let your Shampoo feed you her best ramen-dish," Shampoo compensated.

"That'll work," Yusuke said in agreement, earning himself not only another squeal from the teen girl held in his strong grasp, but also a rapid, affectionate-filled massage by Shampoo's face.

"Aiyaa!"

"Yeah, my thoughts exactly," Yusuke joked with a small chuckle.

Finding her chosen sweetheart's laughter infectious, Shampoo giggled cutely, keeping herself pressed against Yusuke so he would have to carry her into the restaurant, and he actually did, easily closing the door with the back of his heel.

"Hey, Shampoo, who was that at the door, my love?" Mousse asked in a curious voice of a chivalrous man, appearing into the main lounge from the stairs.

Yusuke snickered from the look of utter disdain that appeared on the teen girl's face from hearing Mousse's voice, "Stupid Mousse. Stop trying to ruin Shampoo's moment with her airen, go back to bed," The blue-haired amazon angrily demanded.

The thing about that was, Mousse _couldn't _just go back to bed after hearing the familiar title that was so disdainful to his ears, especially considering the fact his beloved Shampoo called his hated rival Saotome that virtually every day. Now if only he had his glasses on...

"What? The scum Saotome's here? Damn you, Saotome you despicable dirt-bag! You've already gathered a legion of women and even men to your sick twisted harem! Can't you just leave my Shampoo be!" Mousse roared, making Yusuke frown in a contemplative manner.

He wondered why this tenacious, short-sighted martial artist couldn't leave Shampoo alone. Doggedness could only be admired so much before it starts getting creepy, and in Yusuke's opinion Mousse had already long since well passed that line by miles now.

'Should I just erase his presence here and now?' Yusuke mused, considering Mousse's eradication thoroughly. Even though he had annihilated an entire force as little as last night Shampoo didn't seem to mind. Evaluating her sheer contempt of the persistent bespectacled boy who had harassed her time and again Yusuke would guess Shampoo would appreciate having Mousse out of her life permanently.

"You stupid Mousse! Boy-Ranma not even here," Shampoo retorted, now intent on climbing off of her sweetheart to change Mousse into his curse form and lock him in his cage. Yusuke had miraculously decided to come over, and although he may not be here for her, the Amazonian warrior had to take this golden chance while she could to get intimate with him. The last thing she needed was Mousse wasting his time with his misplaced chivalry.

Though when Shampoo tried to gracefully glide out of Yusuke's grip, the young man straightened her back up with a quick throw up, "Eh, Yusuke-airen?" Shampoo asked curiously, "What wrong? Shampoo can handle stupid Mousse no problem."

"Oh I know," Yusuke said, not at all worried about Shampoo losing to Mousse. Her power level was clearly higher, "Just leave this one to me tho. I'll take out the garbage, and believe me, when I, quote, "take out the garbage," it stays out, unquote."

Shampoo pierced together the implication of Yusuke's quip with curious recognition, "Airen mean he take out Mousse. Yes?"

Yusuke nodded, "Affirmative."

Shampoo gasped, though a cheery smile quickly found its way to her visage, "Okay! Airen knows best!"

'Damn. She's cold. Granny's taught her well, I see,' Yusuke thought with a smirk, half mischievous, half devilish in nature. Letting Shampoo nimbly glide from his arms, he watched the young woman of an Amazonian heritage spring around ebulliently to offer Mousse a mock farewell wave.

"Bye, bye, Mousse! You not be missed!" Shampoo smiled with a wave.

Mousse scowled, believing the sleazebag Saotome was planning to take Shampoo away, "Oh no you don't Saotome! I won't just stand idly by, and watch you take my dear Shampoo away from me. Prepare yourself, scum!" Leapfrogging skilfully into the air, Mousse conjured up a flurry of metal chains from his long-sleeves, sending them flying at what he believed to be his long-time rival.

Nodding with a mock applause of his hands, Yusuke's stance remained completely immobile despite the barrage of deadly weapons heading toward his person, "Sufficiently good," He said, easily snatching all of Mousse's chains in one hand, "But not good enough," With a casual yank of his weaker left hand that made amazement appear on Shampoo's features, a shell-shocked Mousse was sent hurtling toward Yusuke.

The short-sighted male Amazonian warrior couldn't even describe the tremendous explosive-like object that had assaulted his ribs, causing an sickening crunch of shattering bones to ring out through the café. It was like a goddamned rocket had blown into him, "Grrrgh!" Groaning with a batch of blood spattering out of his mouth, Mousse weakly lifted up his hands, trying to tell by touch alone what had buried itself into his now broken ribs.

He could safely deduce he was folded over "Ranma's" knee.

'What the hell's going on? Saotome was _never _this strong before. He damned near pulled me in with my own chains like a magnetic force and broke my ribs with one knee strike!' There was only one person Mousse knew who had that kind of ungodly striking power. Seeing as he had met him only yesterday, the event and his unbearable malevolence was still fresh in Mousse's mind, turning his blood cold.

'N-No… It can't be hi-.'

"Hey, you till with us, dude?" Mousse's eyes dilated in horrified acknowledgement at the faux concerned voice. Slowly lifting up his head, Mousse winced, gritting his teeth to keep it indistinct. Not wanting to believe his eyes, Mousse struggled to lift up his hand to his forehead.

Yusuke predicted what he was trying to do, "Ah, how could I forget. You're short-sighted," Quickly bouncing Mousse off of his knee as if he was a soccer ball, causing the injured teen to wince painfully, Yusuke grabbed the front of his shirt, easily keeping him in the air with a sadistic smirk, "Ehhh. You know what they say, the customer should always see what they've bargained for," Putting his index to Mousse's thick lenses, Yusuke pushed them down and over his eyes, relishing in the utter look of fear that washed over Mousse's face at seeing him clearly.

"I-It's… y-you," Mousse stammered with a wince.

"S'up doc?" Yusuke asked innocently, chuckling with a disturbing tone that was totally ignored by Shampoo, the teen girl watching him deal with Mousse with a petulant eager expression, "You know you fucked up, right. You do know that?"

Confusion also gathered inside of Mousse amidst his fear, "Eh? I-I-I d-don't u-understand w-what y-you mean?"

"You fucked up," Yusuke repeated with satisfactory, jabbing his free thumb in Shampoo's direction, "Care to explain girl."

"Absolutely, anything for Yusuke-airen!" Shampoo exclaimed enthusiastically, pausing to take a moment to cough into her fist to build up a nervous suspense for Mousse.

Having expected a really overly-dramatic loud declaration from the girl of his dreams, Mousse flinched from his fellow Amazonian's cheery, but noticeably calm explanation, "Airen make Mousse go nighty-night, for good. He won't wake up now, or ever to bother us again."

Even though the teen on death's step had been aware of the female Amazonians' disregard for their male counterparts, it still cut deep within him to hear the young woman he had been crushing on since adolescence snub him off with cheerful indifference, "Oh no," Using the last bit of his strength, Mousse pulled a long katana out of his sleeve and sloppily slashed Yusuke in the face, bellowing out a desperate demanding scream, "What have you done to my Shampoo!"

"Yusuke-airen!" Shampoo screamed in concern. She was prepared to smash Mousse out of his grip to check on the extent of his "injury," she really was, but she ended up freezing at the distinct sound of shattering steel before the sword just fell to pieces, leaving behind a useless hilt.

"…"

"…"

'Wow, that incredible. Not even scratch on Shampoo's airen.'

"N-No," Mousse murmured in a horrifying manner, wishing he could pinch himself awake as he dropped the hilt of his now broken sword to which it hit the ground with a dull thud echoing out eerily, "J-Just w-what k-kind o-o-f inhuman machine are y-you?"

Yusuke reasoned with the most logical statement in the world, "You're death." Casually chuckling Mousse into the wall not only caused it to crack but also made Shampoo jump up in excitement as if she was watching a wrestling match.

"Aiyaa. Mousse really going to get it now."

Pitifully crawling upward to the best of his abilities, using the wall as leverage, Mousse inched his way closer to the door, his hollow breath deepening with every little distance he travelled, "No," He whimpered quietly, finally reaching the door, and grabbing the doorknob with all his might, "Y-You're a m-monster!"

Straining his muscles to pull himself to his feet, Mousse was indeed able to stand on wobbly legs, wasting no time to throw open the door and head for the hills, as fast as he could in his injured state. That wasn't fast at all, "Oh Shampoo, I'm so sorry I've had to leave you like this. Please forgive me my love."

Sighing calmly, Yusuke jammed his hands into his pockets, quickly ambling after the fleeing teen boy, "Now if only the Jusenkyo-screwballs were wise enough to scram with their tails between their legs, it might have saved their lives," He sighed in mock-pity, never halting his eerie leisured chase down of the teen, "With great power comes a great ass-clown I suppose."

Had he looked, he would've noticed that Shampoo's expression could've basically been related to a kid in a candy store, however at the moment he currently had slightly larger fish to fry, "Mousse running away, but Yusuke-airen in no rush to catch up to him." She shivered lustfully, "Shampoo make right decision picking Yusuke as her airen. He has heart of Amazonian warrior." By that she meant he had no heart at all.

An accurate description would be Yusuke had the ruthlessness instilled in each and every Amazonian woman of China.

And Shampoo adored it.

XxX

Mousse was absolutely terrified, dragging his feet via sheer willpower alone away from the cat café as quick as he possibly could. As much as he feared to admit it in this increasingly bleak situation he felt it was redundant to even attempt to get away from that _beast. _His broken ribs severely hindered his hasty departure, making it all but impossible to turn on what little super speed he had at his disposal.

When he moved, it was like a serial killer was taking a knife and stabbing him repeatedly in the chest, which was kind of ironic considering who was on his tail. Somehow, Mousse just knew this would-be assassin wouldn't be using any weapons to take him out. After all, he had done this much to him with just one strike of his knee for Pete's sake.

'Oh! Why couldn't it have been Saotome who had showed up to attempt to steal my Shampoo away!?' Mousse frantically reflected. He could at least deal with Ranma. And if, by some strange stroke of fate, his potential victory over Ranma wasn't to be, than the worst case scenario was Ranma beating him up, excessively bragging in his face about it, and going home afterward. Mousse certainly wouldn't be on the run for his life though.

The old saying "Better with the Devil you know" couldn't have been more appropriate.

'It feels like he's breathing right down my neck!' The teen literally attempting to make himself scarce of death himself thought. Paranoid? Yes, but who wouldn't be limping away with an overwhelming amount of killing intent weighing them down?

Cautiously turning his head over his shoulder, hoping to have put some semblance of distance between himself and his potential murderer, Mousse almost let out the unmanly squeak at finding him closing the distance at a leisured pace, no real haste at all.

'Damn! He's going that fast while walking? Just what is h-.' Unfortunately, his need for a security blanket would end up being his undoing as he took his eyes off of the pathway. As he crashed into the all too familiar structure of a lamppost Mousse could only lament the irony of his dire predicament.

"Oh Shampoo, please break free of his spell and save me." Mousse whimpered, lying on his back with a pair of broken glasses falling off of his face. He didn't even need glasses to know a huge shadow was eclipsing his entire body, with a stony visage sizing him up as if he was an ant to be crushed beneath his feet.

"I'll make this quick. Cockroaches take zero exertion to crush anyway," Yusuke said, lifting up his heel.

"N-No, please! I'm begging you! Don't kill m-."

"Hey, you're a cockroach. Last time I checked they don't chat. You feel?" Yusuke quipped, bringing his heel downward in the direction of the whimpering Mousse. For the briefest of seconds, everything appeared to stop to Mousse's perspective, allowing the other world's newest tenant a glimpse of his life.

Mousse's life certainly wasn't one of exquisite fortunate, growing up with his mom in the old country. He didn't know his father, seeing as his mother never spoke of him in a positive light. When questioned of the man Mousse's mother had nothing but ill criticisms of him and asked her son not to speak of him to her.

Maybe that was why he pined for Shampoo, because he himself desperately wanted to start his own family in the near future, to be the man his father wasn't.

His attempts at winning her over proved far less than adequate with each merciless rejection the girl had given him since childhood. A part of him thought a new start in Japan would ignite a blossoming relationship between him and his beloved Shampoo, but no, that _she-boy_ Saotome stood in his way. Shamefully Crawling back to his home country, Mousse was further punished for his own clumsiness, falling into the Spring of Drowned Duck. Since then it had been one hilarious misadventure after the next in a bid to not only cure himself of his curse but win Shampoo over, until _he_ came along.

The rest wrote itself.

'Shampoo,' Was Mousse's last thought before his entire body was squashed by the foot of Yusuke.

Now Musu – aka Mousse – was no more but a bloody smudge in a cratered ground.

"Sayonara." Yusuke said remorselessly, coolly ambling back to the cat café with his hands still shoved inside of his pockets, finding the ever euphoric Shampoo standing in the doorway, if not more excited than before.

"Aiyaa, Yusuke-airen did it!" Shampoo cheered, once again ensnarling Yusuke's neck and torso with her arms and legs respectively. She was pleased to feel his strong hands groping her rear, "Take care of stupid hurdle Mousse like true amazon warrior," She stated sweetly, tilting her head to the side, "Now we have no distractions."

"Yeah, that's one way to look at it," Yusuke said a tad sheepishly, stepping into the cat café once again.

Seizing her opportunity, Shampoo pushed her lips against Yusuke's, overjoyed to find him kissing her back without prejudice. Permitting his tongue entrance to her mouth, her tongue engaged Yusuke's in a playful match.

"Ah," Shampoo moaned into the compass of Yusuke's mouth, feeling her back pinned roughly against the wall, turning her on even more. Now as she mooched her airen back with even more vigour, only taking short breathers to nibble and sickle on his bottom lip, she dug her nails into his broad back, awed to discover just how durable he was.

When the need for air became too great the two broke apart, taking in audible breaths to recuperate faster, "That… was," Shampoo started, watching Yusuke with an lovey-dovey gaze, sliding her arms up to hug his neck, "…Amazing. Shampoo want do that to boy-Ranma, but never could. She glad she has airen who let her kiss him."

Instead of quipping with his usual cockiness, he did so without anything of the sort on his visage. Not even a playful sneer lingered, making it apparent he wasn't speaking to Shampoo, "Enjoying the show, lady?" He said, twirling around so he was the one facing a grinning Cologne now, "If so, might I recommend getting some popcorn? It'll make the experience that much more pleasurable."

"Oh, don't mind me sunny-boy, the picture was quite satisfying as it was," Cologne said playfully, standing atop a table with her long staff right beside her, "Though I suppose such a treat wouldn't hurt an old lady such as myself now, eh?" She let out her typical croaky laugh.

"Course. Next time I'll buy ya all the popcorn you can eat to watch a two-hour make-out special of me and Shampoo attempting to eat our faces off," Yusuke mumbled flippantly, putting a blush on Shampoo's cheeks, the teen girl twiddling her fingers on his muscular chest.

"Oh I look forward to it," Cologne grinned mischievously.

"Good, good, tho that's for next time. Right now I've got another highly essential topic I need to discuss with you," Yusuke admitted, lowering Shampoo to the ground, much to the teen girl's chargin.

"Aw," Shampoo whined whimsically, gently running her finger in circles on Yusuke's beefy packs, a dreamy expression on her face, 'Shampoo airen so big. It really great feat he keep himself so in shape.'

Humming pensively, Cologne folded her hands underneath her tiny chin, all but more mentally declaring playtime over, "Yes, I was made aware beforehand by Shampoo of your request to speak with me regarding a grave subject while you were permanently dealing with our duck problem," Shampoo scoffed with contempt.

Yusuke narrowed his eyes, a look of mild, sharp inquisitiveness on his countenance, "I find that odd," His intense curiosity caught Shampoo by surprise.

Even Cologne felt intimidated by Yusuke's pierce gaze, and quite frankly, only years of experience kept her from showing it, "And why would that be sunny?"

"Easy. Wasn't four-eyes part of your dynasty? I would think you'd be considerably woeful, and maybe even a tad vengeful, than you are now, that a warrior of my calibre had swaggered into this joint and iced him as if he was eating a piece of cake," Yusuke smoothly explained.

Studying the young man with an energy-signature and an attitude that resembled her old friend so with an impassive glance, Cologne would soon sigh in a resigned manner, "Oh, It seems you are a lot more perceptive than you let on sunny-boy, though I mean no disrespect to you before."

"None taken."

Nodding gratefully, Cologne explained, "But you are very much correct about Musu. Had it been my Shampoo on the receiving end of your wrath, I would have had to step in, even if the end result would have been my imminent annihilation."

Shampoo shuddered to think being on Yusuke's bad side. She still had the bruise on the side of her neck, a tribute to the massive engulf in power between the two.

"In our society, if our male-counterparts do not have power equal or greater to our own, they are treated with an air of contempt, Musu was no different. Keeping him here had been partly for my own amusement, but mostly as a contrivance to edge Shampoo and Ranma closer together. I had hoped his proximity with her would trigger a pang of jealousy within Ranma, enough for him to fight for her hand in marriage against Musu. When the dust settled, Shampoo and Ranma would marry, and produce powerful off springs to the tribe. Do you understand?"

That was the kicker, Yusuke did indeed understand. As dirty and underhanded as it was, Yusuke couldn't deny it was quite clever. Ranma was like a petulant boy/girl-baby in that aspect. When they saw that toy they didn't want anything to do with in the hands of someone else they conveniently decided they wanted it.

Yusuke smirked, closing his eyes, "Heh. You know you're evil, right. You do know that, don't you?" He reopened his eyes to pin Cologne with a mischievous glint that made Shampoo smile brightly.

"Oh, none more so than you, sunny," Cologne retorted in kind, grinning. The two residents and their visitors shared a moment of amusement between the three of them before Cologne decided it was time to get down to business with a stiff cough into her wrinkled hand, "So, what was concerning you that you felt you needed to pay a visit to old little me sunny-boy?"

"Yeah," Yusuke mumbled, his expression sobering considerably, drawing a curious Shampoo in closer, "Shampoo, why don't you get grub started. This," His darkening eyes made the insinuation of his discussion with Cologne that much more dangerous, "-May take a while."

Shampoo stared at her airen blankly, "Really that important?"

"Yes, really that important." Yusuke said, quoting Shampoo's broken speech mechanisms.

Shampoo gasped, placing her hands on her mouth, "Whoa," She hushed out in an awed whisper, a cheery smile of acceptance coming to her face, "Okay! Your Shampoo go make you best ramen dish now!" Capturing Yusuke's lips against hers, the blue-haired beauty savoured the pleasurable sensation of Yusuke's warm breath inside her mouth, and his rough hands groping her round, firm ass.

'Oh, sunny-bo-, no, _son-in-law _doesn't even realize he's all but sealed the deal by accepting the Kiss of Marriage not once, but twice now,' Cologne mused mischievously, just hoping he wouldn't decide to deal with her and Shampoo when he found out what he had signed himself up for.

When the kiss broke, Shampoo reluctantly stepped away from Yusuke with her arms held out wide in childish euphoria, "Be back!" She said, turning around to give Yusuke a clear view of her rear end. Not wasting any time Yusuke rebounded his hand off of the cushy body part of Shampoo, making her jump, "Ouch!" Twirling her head over her shoulder to see Yusuke's cheeky smirk, she smiled herself, before taking off to the kitchen.

Moving over to the grinning old lady, Yusuke pulled out a chair, professionally tucking himself in, "Get your head out of the gutter, lady."

"Oh, you might want to take your own advice sunny-boy," Cologne retorted, not having the courage necessary call him her son-in-law just yet. After receiving a mute nod from the young man, Cologne took that as her cue to go into her elderly stoicism, "What would be the best way to start this grave discussion child."

"I have an idiot-proof method for just the occasion," Yusuke said in jest, keeping his hands intertwined on his lap, "You wouldn't happen to know of a teeny-weensy old fart by the name of Happosai by any chance, would-cha?" He lowered his hand to the ground, "He's about yea high, acts like he's till in diapers, and apparently has a fetish for women's panties."

It didn't take long at all for Yusuke to get his desire answer.

"So even to this day, Happy still insists on making a nuisance of himself," Cologne sighed with resignation, earning herself a calm look of acknowledgement from the young man sitting at the table she was standing on, "I concede I should have predicted as much, but part of me had an aspiration of Happy maturing mentally in his old, old, old age."

The implications of her statement and the pep name itself Cologne had for Happosai were all the evidence Yusuke needed to come to the conclusion that the two ancient martial artists had lived very long lives, being somewhat close at one stage.

"But yes, I acknowledge my familiarity with Happy, though with the petulant way he acts I sometimes wish I never. In the old days, the self-proclaimed fool for love made passes at every girl in the village before he eventually plundered all of our valuables, including my magic mirror," Cologne explained.

Yusuke didn't care for ninety-nine percent of the story, only the last one-percent of it held any significant merit to him, "What kind?"

"The magic works by shredding a single tear drop on its surface, opening a window to the bearer's heartland, bringing the bearer and anyone within the carrier's proximity to the place he or she would most like to be at the current moment of time. It could range from anywhere to fifty years into the future, one hundred years into the past, or even an alter dimension entirely," Cologne said croakily.

"That fits the bill, I guess," Yusuke mumbled, stretching his arm up to massage the side of his head with a sigh, closing his eyes, "Now that perfectly sums up the little turd's plan to bring this uber powerful overlord-guy named Ganondorf to whup my ass."

*Clunk.*

Opening his eyes, Yusuke would find Cologne's long staff rolling slowly toward the edge of the table. Looking over to the elderly lady, Yusuke would see the extended-eyed look of absolute terror on her wrinkled visage.

"It is not my intention to sound senile," Cologne started in a notable careful tone, "-But may I ask you to confirm your last statement so I know for certain my hearing is not failing me in my old age."

In simple terms even his friend Ranma could decipher, Cologne's request essentially translated to, "You're kidding, right? Please for the love that is all things holy tell me you're kidding?" Unfortunately for the elderly lady, he wasn't. And Yusuke made sure to get his point across in his typical straightforward, yet witty way.

"Midget-geezer and his gang of bitches are booking Ganondorf a one-way flight ticket to the present as we speak."

"I see." Cologne said, closing her eyes in resignation. What was that old fool thinking? Had he lost his mind? Clearly, both questions were rhetorical because he obviously had if he was planning on bringing Ganondorf to the present. Cologne knew there were only two people who could step to Ganondorf's pedestal, and both had long since passed now, and even if one didn't pass, his power had long since diminished to the point Ganondorf would find no challenge in defeating him.

Opening her eyes, it seemed even Raizen's descendant was worried, even only on a minuscule-level.

"You should thoroughly prepare yourself, sunny-boy. The worst is yet to come."

"If you don't mind me asking…"

"No, not at all… the entire world will be forced into subjugation by Ganondorf."

* * *

><p><strong>Whoop, whoop. This story just continues to get considerably more darker as it goes along! The first of Ranma 12's bland, one-dimensional robots fuelled on exaggerated emotions has been crushed underneath the heel of self-righteous justice. The dark cloud that symbolizes the threat of the ever powerful Ganondorf lurks over Nerima, but the question of the day remains; can he get to Nermina fast enough to spread "despair" throughout the world before Yusuke kills 'em all?**

**You shall see if you stick around. **


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